Justice Roberts BLINDSIDES Media With Surprise Announcement
(DailyVantage.com) – The Supreme Court ruling on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization spread shockwaves nationwide on Friday, June 24. Justices overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey and the 1973 Roe v. Wade landmark case. The Court’s conservative majority banded together in a 5 to 4 decision regarding abortion and the 14th Amendment question of the right to privacy.
The Dobbs Case
Arguments for the Dobbs case came before the Supreme Court in December 2021. At the heart of the issue was the constitutionality of an abortion ban after 15 weeks — Mississippi’s 2018 “Gestational Age Act.” Jackson Women’s Health Organization challenged the law, stating a fetus isn’t viable at 15 weeks, and therefore it falls under the precedent of Roe v. Wade.
Chief Justice John Roberts Responds
Chief Justice John Roberts issued an opinion concurring with the judgment following the reversal of the landmark case agreeing with the majority but not the rationale behind the opinion. In fact, shortly after the Court issued the ruling, he made it clear he was looking for a middle ground, perhaps to avoid the inevitable fallout. He favored striking down the Dobbs case but wanted to stop short of overturning Roe.
What Roberts found was a court where none of the other eight justices agreed with him. The Conservatives were steadfast against him, saying his approach was impractical. The liberal justices said he was “wrong” with no explanation. Roberts stood alone in the middle.
Following the decision, Roberts’ conservative counterparts picked apart his arguments, with Justice Samuel Alito saying his opinion failed “to offer any principled basis for its approach” and dismissing part of it as “simply incorrect.”
Friction in the Court
In the weeks leading up to the Dobbs decision, according to POLITICO, the atmosphere in the SCOTUS was tense, most notably because of the draft leak, which the news outlet published on May 3. Then, there was the matter of activists doxxing the Justices accompanied by threats and protests outside some of their homes. Despite speculation about the reason for the draft leak, with some thinking it was a desperate attempt to persuade the Justices to change their minds, the SCOTUS Justices proved the leaked opinion was true.
The Aftermath
Several states enacted trigger laws as soon as the High Court overturned the landmark case. As a result, abortion is likely to be illegal in approximately 16 states in some capacity. Some have strict gestational term limits, called Heartbeat laws, while others have total bans on the procedure.
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