John's Muse
The Economist 05/05/2022
Abortion is a hard moral problem, but most Western democracies have struck a compromise between the liberal position, that the state should not control women’s bodies, and the most conservative position, that any abortion is murder. America is different. If the draft opinion stands unamended, most abortions look set to become illegal in half of the states; some bans woTuld include cases of rape or incest.
The court is poised to reopen some of the most contentious questions in American public life, including carbon-dioxide emissions, gay marriage and guns. Conservative Americans argue that liberals broke the court in the 1950s and 1960s, pursuing a programme they could not get past Congress. Even if most Americans favor a compromise between a libertarian view and the belief that life begins at conception, they say, judges are supposed to rule on the law, not bend to public opinion. That is surely right. However, when a dysfunctional legislature is unable to pass laws that resolve the big questions of the age, the courts bear a special responsibility, lest justice itself be poisoned. If the justices take it upon themselves to cut through legislative knots, using their power maximally, they will transform themselves into an all-powerful unelected third chamber, with grave implications for America.
Check out my book, THRILL CHASE, available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WS62CLN
The Economist 05/05/2022
Abortion is a hard moral problem, but most Western democracies have struck a compromise between the liberal position, that the state should not control women’s bodies, and the most conservative position, that any abortion is murder. America is different. If the draft opinion stands unamended, most abortions look set to become illegal in half of the states; some bans woTuld include cases of rape or incest.
The court is poised to reopen some of the most contentious questions in American public life, including carbon-dioxide emissions, gay marriage and guns. Conservative Americans argue that liberals broke the court in the 1950s and 1960s, pursuing a programme they could not get past Congress. Even if most Americans favor a compromise between a libertarian view and the belief that life begins at conception, they say, judges are supposed to rule on the law, not bend to public opinion. That is surely right. However, when a dysfunctional legislature is unable to pass laws that resolve the big questions of the age, the courts bear a special responsibility, lest justice itself be poisoned. If the justices take it upon themselves to cut through legislative knots, using their power maximally, they will transform themselves into an all-powerful unelected third chamber, with grave implications for America.
Check out my book, THRILL CHASE, available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WS62CLN