Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows

[merithyn]

Hard for me not to see them in the crosshairs on this one. They held the power to prevent a second rapist from getting on the court.

And why the hell would anyone think that a court with at least two guys with so little respect for women would do anything less than this? Let's not even get into Coney-Barrett's obsession with giving birth.

Who was the first?

Thomas

[The Minsky Moment]

Roe v Wade made US abortion law go a bit to far. In most other countries you can abort in the first trimester, up until a certain week. Roe v Wade made it legal to abort until the day of birth more or less.

No it didn't, I have no idea where that comes from, although I saw some talking head on US TV making the same claims.  The Roe and Casey line of cases permit significant regulation of abortion, particularly beyond the first trimester.  So much so that even now as Roe is still the law of the land, it is virtually impossible for many American women to either get counseling or get access to care.

[The Minsky Moment]

From Roe: " For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."

From Casey:  "To promote the State's profound interest in potential life, throughout pregnancy the State may take measures to ensure that the woman's choice is informed, and measures designed to advance this interest will not be invalidated as long as their purpose is to persuade the woman to choose childbirth over abortion."

[grumbler]

Susan Collins?

Sorry, you are correct.

[Syt]

[The Larch]

I'm reading about the possibility of impeaching Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for claiming during their respective senate hearings that they'd uphold Roe v. Wade, but it doesn't seem realistic. What do you guys think?

[grumbler]

I'm reading about the possibility of impeaching Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for claiming during their respective senate hearings that they'd uphold Roe v. Wade, but it doesn't seem realistic. What do you guys think?

Impeachment would be a waste of time.  The Senate would never convict.

[Barrister]

I'm reading about the possibility of impeaching Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for claiming during their respective senate hearings that they'd uphold Roe v. Wade, but it doesn't seem realistic. What do you guys think?

My understanding is they didn't say they'd uphold it - they said RvW "was settled law".

Which is true - it was settled up until they ruled to overturn it.

Anyways, in case it wasn't obvious before, impeachment is an intensely political process and there is no possibility of a 2/3 vote in the US Senate to remove either.

[Oexmelin]

There is probably a better impeachment case for Congress members who believed such BS for criminal lack of judgment.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm reading about the possibility of impeaching Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for claiming during their respective senate hearings that they'd uphold Roe v. Wade, but it doesn't seem realistic. What do you guys think?

2/3 senate vote required.

[viper37]

I'm reading about the possibility of impeaching Gorsuch and Kavanaugh for claiming during their respective senate hearings that they'd uphold Roe v. Wade, but it doesn't seem realistic. What do you guys think?

2/3 senate vote required.

Declare Republicans enemy of the State.
Arrest all Republicans Congress Members.
Proceed with the impeachment.


It's what the Republicans would want to do if they lost their majority in Congress during a Republican presidency.

[The Minsky Moment]

My understanding is they didn't say they'd uphold it - they said RvW "was settled law".

Kavanaugh specifically stated that Roe is entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis.  The Alito draft argues that Roe is not entitled to that respect. It is a contradiction, Kavanaugh could not sign on to the draft as written without contradicting his testimony.

[Barrister]

My understanding is they didn't say they'd uphold it - they said RvW "was settled law".

Kavanaugh specifically stated that Roe is entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis.  The Alito draft argues that Roe is not entitled to that respect. It is a contradiction, Kavanaugh could not sign on to the draft as written without contradicting his testimony.

Putting aside that impeachment is inherently political, the legal claim to impeach someone like Kavanaugh was that he committed perjury.  Perjury is making a statement knowing it is false.

Again, under stare decisis one can still respect that a decision exists and give it respect and not lightly overturn it - but still in the end decide to overturn it.

Maybe he was being cute in his senate confirmation (heck I'm sure of it) - but that's how the game is played.  We saw the same kind of thing in KBJ's confirmation hearing.

[PRC]

Gay rights and gay marriage.

They're coming for this.

Yup.  It's still balled up in the whole anti-LGBTQ "war on sexual deviancy," coming soon to a school board near you.

Confirmed Conservative wanker Ben Shapiro:

https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1521895060735942656

Ben Shapiro: "Obergefell is a bad Supreme Court decision and if we had a Supreme Court worth its salt, they would overturn Obergefell".

Obergefell is of course the civil rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples.

[The Minsky Moment]

Putting aside that impeachment is inherently political, the legal claim to impeach someone like Kavanaugh was that he committed perjury.  Perjury is making a statement knowing it is false.

I agree his statement is not prosecutable as perjury.  That is not the standard for impeachment.  The standard for impeachment is whatever 2/3 of the Senate and 1/2 of the House deems sufficiently offensive to justify impeachment.

Were he to sign the opinion exactly as written I also disagree that is just playing the game as usual. That would go beyond cagey to outright misleading the Senate to secure the 2 key votes he needed for confirmation.