But the folly of that expectation should have been clear when Justice Kennedy, in his partial birth abortion opinion, paternalistically cautioned that upholding this surgical procedure might cause women to do things they might later regret. Someone needs to tell Justice Kennedy the 19th Century is over!
So what exactly are these so-called Conservatives conserving? The interests of the richest and most powerful among us? The idea that women need daddies to help them reach rational decisions? The integrity of the Constitution and the decisions of lower courts? The Constitutional glue of precedent?
There are indeed times when precedent impedes progress and obstructs justice. That was true when the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Warren Burger overturned a half-century of Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” racial doctrine to rule that separate could never be equal.
Then, and at most times in our country’s history, overturning precedent has been in the service of increasing freedom for the least of us. This Court term has seen a 180-degree turn away from that proud tradition. It has resulted in less, not more, freedom.
Conserving the freedoms of the least of us seems to be what Conservatives have forgotten.
Today’s Supreme Court makes you wonder how Conservatives define “judicial activism.”
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