The Court Endorses Tyranny
The draft Supreme Court decision throwing out Roe vs Wade is a triumph of ideology over constitutional law.
It is precisely what was most feared when three Trump appointees joined the court.
It is precisely what was most wanted by the MAGA crowd, who scream about “law and order” but don’t give a damn about law as long as they get the kind of order they want.
The opinion by Samuel Alito, court Neanderthal-in-chief, attacks Roe as “egregiously wrong” because abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution and is not “deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.”
Of course, a lot of things the court routinely rules on are not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. The court’s job is the adjudicate those cases based on what is mentioned and what is implied though not specifically mentioned.
Alito’s main appeal, then, is to tradition. Abortion was not legal before Roe. Therefore, it should not be allowed now. With this blithely nonsensical argument, Alito throws out nearly 50 years of precedent based on Roe.
Roe was decided on a right to privacy and personal autonomy that the justices found in the 14th Amendment. Alito implies that he’s waiting for other cases based on this right to come his way so he can sweep them away, too.
Forget about contraceptives. Forget about a right to sleep with or cohabit with or marry whomever you want – whatever that person’s sex, race or nationality.
In fact, forget about freedom altogether. You are not free. You have no rights. As Alito and his allies on the court have ruled in the past, corporations have more rights than human beings. You need to learn your place. Your rights begin and end only where the control freaks in the all-powerful MAGA government say they do.
You’ll note here how right-wing operatives have cleverly hijacked the language of freedom. Freedom is not having to wear a facemask or get an antivirus shot. Freedom is being able to dictate how your neighbors live their lives. Freedom is being able to claim a cash prize if you turn in someone for crossing a state line to have an abortion.
Freedom of religion is not being able to worship as you choose while granting others the same right. Freedom of religion is being able to impose your religious views on others. Others may not agree that personhood beings at conception. (Biblically speaking, it’s a dubious notion.) But your opinion rules. Your ideology rules because the Supreme Court says it does.
Several states have passed draconian anti-abortion laws in anticipation of Roe being overturned. These laws do not include exemptions for incest or rape. That clearly signals that these laws are not about abortion at all but about enforcing violent male domination of women
Earlier this week many people celebrated Star Wars Day – “May the Fourth be with you.” Remember that the second movie in the original trilogy was titled “The Empire Strikes Back.” As one of my seminary professors frequently said, “The empire always strikes back.”
The bigger story here is that white “Christian” nationalists want to create an invincible apartheid shield before they become a minority. They want to fabricate a system that keeps them in power and in control forever.
Missouri, a slave state, is already poised to criminalize abortion. Kansas, always a bloody battleground over slavery and human rights, at least gets a chance to vote for the right thing. Other slave states, and some new ones, are eager to form a new Confederacy where a certain “tradition” always wins
Vlad the Impaler Putin is smiling. He knows who his allies are. All despots do – except for Alito and friends. They think freedom is a privilege granted to a new, not a human right.
