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The Republican Party Does Not Want Roe Overturned (Cameron Sawyer, USA, 05/13/22 4:37 am)

JE wrote on May 12th: "Cameron, I wish I could share your idealism that the Supreme Court is above politics. Possibly the Justices believe this, and Chief Justice Roberts works diligently to maintain such an image, but does anyone seriously think that Trump's Justices were not selected because of their stance on Roe v Wade--or that overturning would be a ‘withdrawal' from politics? Just look at the political maelstrom unleashed by the leak."

Well, the political maelstrom shows only how deeply the Court got themselves into politics in 1973. Now is payback time. And were Trump's justices appointed because of Roe? No, Trump, in a rare moment of understanding that he didn't have a clue about the law or judges, farmed out the selection of justices to the Federalist Society, an influential group of libertarian and conservative lawyers and legal scholars--and I have been involved in this group since its inception, and was the President of the Atlanta Lawyers' Division of the Federalist Society during the late '80s until 1991. The Federalist Society is neutral on the question of abortion--libertarians like me, who generally favor abortion rights, are well represented in the Society--but is very much interested in judicial restraint, keeping the courts out of politics and policy decisions in general. The justices appointed by Trump, and all confirmed despite the ugliest smear campaigns raised against them, were all fine choices, and join other very good justices.  The Court is in very good shape these days in terms of skill and brainpower, much better than it was in 1973. There will be many fewer decisions usurping legislatures, to unleash future maelstroms, and inspire future "litmus tests." This is good.

One of several groups who did not want Roe overruled is the Republican Party. Republicans have been hiding behind Roe for decades, the perfect excuse for not implementing the more extreme policies demanded by their more extreme constituents. Polls show that a large majority of Americans favor abortion rights within reasonable limits, so sending the issue back to legislatures favors Democrats. Fanatics on one side have used Roe to perpetuate gruesome practices like partial birth abortions, which inflames fanatics on the other side, which deepens polarization. Now Republicans are particularly caught between their own fanatic constituents, and their reasonable ones.  They can no longer hide behind Roe.  They will be forced to take a position, and whatever position that is is going to freak out some part of their constituents. What is going to happen now is going to be very harmful to the Republican party, already reeling from internal divisions caused by the rise of Trumpism. I believe we would have much less polarization on this issue if we had been dealing with abortion as a normal political issue, negotiating and compromising and passing laws and changing laws, over the years since 1973.

John also commented:  "Lately I've been reading up on the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, which muddled along for centuries before internal divisions and warfare sealed its doom. Is the US condemned to go down the same path? Am I sounding too much like my friend Tor Guimaraes?"

I think there is no doubt that we are in really serious decline. I felt it sharply hearing the torrents of bile flowing out of MSNBC at my father's house last week. Our hyperaggressive foreign policy, based on maintaining Global Hegemony and subverting, intimidating, or crushing all potential competitors, still in full flower and hardly questioned by anyone despite having produced the longest string of foreign policy disasters in our history, is completely crazy.  It will inevitably get us into a big war sooner or later. I don't even think we are going to "muddle along"--this can fall apart quickly. A second Trump presidency leading to actual civil war; a nuclear war; war with China; economic depression--there are many scenarios which could lead to precipitous decline rather than muddling through. Don't even get me started on Biden's Ministry of Truth--the Disinformation Governance Board. I'm surprised we haven't discussed this on WAIS. This is truly Orwellian, and following the Snowden revelations of Stasi levels of massive internal surveillance, except with instruments the Stasi could only dream of. Just imagine once we combine our internal surveillance capabilities and practices, with an official concept of truth--it doesn't even bear thinking of; it goes beyond Orwell. I only hope we don't blow up the whole world, when we go down.

JE comments:  Who will benefit politically from overturning Roe?  I'm inclined to say no one.  Still, there is always the "never let a good crisis go to waste" crowd. Time will tell, and meanwhile, the internal divisions in America get deeper.

Let's shift gears:  Cameron, please convince us why the present Supreme Court is historically blessed with skill and brainpower.  A lot of us don't see it.

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