Thursday, July 21, 2005

How?

How can a right wing court undermine the "precedent bias" (You learn that at your Top 20 law school?) that underpins Roe? I was under the impression that Roe followed out of Griswold and the cases regarding sending your kids to whatever school you wanted. Without overruling that line of cases, how can Roe be undermined (By the way, I love that over/under construction of that sentence.)?

Walk me through the manner in which cases could be decided that would undermine abortion as a fundamental right. I realize you think you have already done this, but how is simply changing the circumstances in which the central holding of Roe could be undermined. You seem to say pin prick after pin prick will eventually mean the holding won't hold up, but my question is how and why is that to be the case? What about the holding of Roe could be weakened over time? I don't understand how saying that women's liberty is a more compelling state interest than protection of the fetus up to the point of viability could be undermined because liberty is very explicit within the Constitution, and it is a generally held supposition that women have equal rights in this country, especially in light of the fact that the 5th and 14th amendments say "person" not "men".

I just don't see how that holding can be washed out, unless of course one attempts to define "fundamental right" into a point in which the words mean nothing.

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