(From Reuters) The Texas woman once known as "Jane Roe," whose case led to the ruling that women have a constitutional right to an abortion, lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal on Tuesday (Feb 22) seeking to overturn its historic 1973 decision.
Article
The Court rejected this most recent bid without comment or recorded dissent. You might also remember that in 1993, the Court actually heard a more significant challenge to overturn Roe, and Roe was upheld.
I am also *somewhat* comforted in all of this by the core legal notion of stare decisis, which literally means "to stand by that which is decided." Courts are generally unwilling to depart from earlier precedents, even if current justices would decide the case differently if heard today. This doesn't mean decisions aren't overruled - they are, especially if it can be shown that the earlier decision was made too hastily or if new legislation undermines the decision (U.S. vs. Washington). I just want you to know that all is not necessarily lost, even if Rhenquist is replaced with an anti-choice justice. Having faith in stare decisis is about all I can do at this point.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment