The Supreme Court — including the rules that govern its members and the decisions it issues — is not untouchable, nor should it be.
Over the past year, the American people have demonstrated the limits of the Supreme Court’s reach. Millions of voters have enshrined reproductive rights into state constitutions and rejected efforts to insert new limits into state law. And while some state legislators, smug in their gerrymandered districts and empowered by the Supreme Court, have continued to enact new violations of privacy, ordinary people have denied the legitimacy of these actions by continuing to help their friends and family secure care, even in the face of potential prosecution.
That is not to suggest that the harms of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health are not far-reaching and severe. It is a dangerous thing when a nation’s highest court rolls back human and civil rights. Denials of care have brought suffering, both emotional and physical. And because Roe v. Wade stood not only for the right to an abortion but also for the equality of women and girls, by overturning it, the Supreme Court also sent a message that pregnancy is more important than freedom.
The above excerpt was originally published in DC Journal.
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