Speaking to the Federalist Society in Washington, D.C., 50-year-old Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett joked about protesters making noise near her Virginia home after the Jun. 24 ruling ending 1973 Roe v. Wade together with five of her conservative colleagues. “It’s really nice to have a lot of noise made not by protesters outside of my house,” Coney Barrett told the Federalist Society. Coney Barrett ruled with Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch that Dobbs v. Jackson did not afford a constitutional right to abortion. Coney-Barrett let her Christian theology get the best of her Constitutional decision-making by ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson that the Constitution affords no inherent right to abortion, deliberately misinterpreting Roe v. Wade that afforded women the right of medical decision-making.
While the Federalist Society at the 2022 National Lawyers Convention cheered Coney Barrett, her ruling, above anything else, hurt conservatives’ political party, the GOP, in the Midterm elections. Post-election analysis showed the voters under 40 and single moms were turned off by the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling ending Roe v. Wade. So, Coney Barrett and the Federalist Society can hoot-and-holler all they want, but the Dobbs ruling hurt GOP prospects, now on the verge of losing the Senate and possibly the House, though that still looks more promising. But the convenient scapegoat in the Nov. 8 Midterm election was 76-year-old former President Donald Trump. Right wing author Anne Coulter, 60, blamed the poor GOP Midterm performance on Trump, telling Trump to “Shut the F-Up, forever” in a Tweet. Coulter like other anti-Trumpers, blame Trump for everything.
When a draft of the Dobbs ruling was leaked in May, protesters were furious, staging a “Handmaiden’s Tale,” dressed in long purple robes and white bonnets, shouting they did not nominate “People of Praise,” the charismatic Christian sect that Coney Barrett practices. But to be fair with Amy, all other Associates Justices voting for Dobbs v. Jackson were not part of Coney Barrett’s religious sect. In Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court ruled that there’s no inherent right in the Constitution for abortion. But the High Court used Dobbs v. Jackson to invalidate Roe v. Wade, that had to do with a women’s right to choose medical decision-making, not specifically abortion. Protesters at Coney Barrett’s home displayed banners that said “reproductive rights are human rights” with picures of Barrett’s face saying, “liar.”
When Coney Barrett finished her confirmation hearing Oct. 13, 2020, she told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she considered Roe v. Wade “settled law” or “established precedent.” But in deciding Dobbs v. Jackson, conservatives on the court found the red herring to invalidate a nearly 53-year-old court precedent. Roe v. Wade was not about abortion but the right to medical decision-making without government interference. Ending Roe v. Wade returned the abortion decision to states, something clearly they’re not prepared to administer. Some states like Texas, Louisiana and Missouri, have outright bans while other states like Indiana, Iowa and Kansas have strict conditions based on the weeks of gestation. Roe v. Wade ended a state’s arbitrary and capricious rules for performing abortions, giving women, whatever the reason, the right to medical treatment.
While some anti-Trump Republicans want to blame Trump for the GOP’s poor performance in the Midterms, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves with conservatives pushing for nearly 53 years to end Roe v. Wader. Nothing could be more retro, returning to a time when women seeking medial care must have their treatments decided by state bureaucrats, not between themselves and their doctors. Taking a women’s right to choose medical care away, drove untold numbers of young people and single moms away from the Republican Party. So when it comes to assigning blame for the poor showing on Nov. 8, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. Pushing all these years to take away hard-fought women’s rights sent an ugly message to women considering which political party to represent their interests.
Democrats can target Coney Barrett, get even nastier about her faith, but the decision to end Roe v. Wade was a 6-3 majority, not just a few justices. Coney Barrett, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch had one thing in common, they all agreed at their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was “settled law” or “established legal precedent.” Finding a case in Dobbs v. Jackson to invalidate Roe v. Wade was inappropriate because Roe v. Wade was not about abortion but about a woman’s right to choose medical treatment freely. Unless there’s a change in the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Republican Party can expect to loose backers in the future, largely because the vast majority of women agree that government bureaucrats should not meddle in health decisions. Republicans got what they deserved pushing for nearly 53 years to end
Roe v Wade, a women’s right to choose.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
