On Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 11:00:32 AM UTC-7, The NOTBCS Guy wrote:
2) Unexpectedly (and I also believe against the Court's precedent in Obergefell), this decision WILL return the question to the States.
My note: I fully expected a 50-state illegality, under the same Establishment Clause protections (that if a fetus is an unborn person with innate Constitutional right not to be aborted, the Establishment Clause applies there, as it did in Obergefell).
This almost certainly indicates that, once a sufficiently-religious right-wing party can get an Obergefell reversal to the Court, the Court is prepared to reverse that as well.
Why? Thomas, and, IIRC, Scalia, made it quite clear in any number of dissents that they both felt that it should be left up to the states. Neither ever expressed an opinion that there should be an outright ban. Besides, if the reason for the overturn
is, "Abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution," then neither is banning it, so it should be left up to "the states, or the people" under the 10th Amendment - and, in fact, that is how the leaked opinion ends.
Under the same Establishment Clause argument given in Obergefell. If the Court can impose gay marriage on states and peoples who will not abide it, then the Court can also impose that a fetus has the rights, as a citizen of the state in which it resides
(and since it lives, it IS such a citizen -- that's another thing they're going to have to parse out!), regardless of whether the state would allow abortion or not. The same 14th Amendment clause which made gay marriage 50-state legal.
This is one of the reasons Alito SPECIFICALLY called for the overturn of Obergefell in the draft Roe overturn decision.
The fact they are punting to the states means neither mother nor fetus has that protection, and, hence, the Roberts Court must overturn Obergefell -- if this decision doesn't do so already.
Now, why do I have the feeling that this just opened the door for the Democrats to take overwhelming control of Congress and who knows how many state legislatures over the next few years? Even the 2022 Senate doesn't seem as much as a lock for the
Republicans as it did last week. Remember, any party that can get 290 Representatives, 67 Senators, and 38 state legislatures can pretty much rewrite the Constitution.
Exactly. One of the reasons I proposed a hypothetical that 218 Reps and 67 Senators from the other party should be the automatic removal of a President -- that would take an amendment, mind you.
I don't know about that situation, simply because I think there are at least enough Putin supporters cogent enough to actually state that a sufficient Red victory in November can remove Biden without impeachment/trial -- see my other post earlier on that
subject.
I think the best case for the D's is what we have now. But what I would say is this: If they could get a 51st D Senator and somehow hold the House, then Biden resigns and Kamala names her replacement to be confirmed in the Congress.
Mike
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