Supreme Court signals
What happened
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority sent a strong signal that it was willing to pare back the right to abortion, and possibly overturn Roe v. Wade entirely, during arguments this week about a 2018 Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Mississippi law had been blocked by lower courts, which said it violated Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, and 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed the right to a termination before fetal viability—currently about 24 weeks. Mississippi’s Solicitor General Scott Stewart said both rulings were “egregiously wrong,” and most of the court’s six conservatives appeared to agree. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested it might be best to return abortion to the states and let the court be “neutral” on an issue on which the Constitution is silent. Justice Amy Coney Barrett implied that adoption had negated the need for abortion. Only Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to favor a compromise, saying that Mississippi’s 15-week ban is “not a dramatic departure from viability.”
The court’s three liberals warned of the dangers of a major departure from Supreme Court precedent. Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused Stewart of bringing the challenge solely because of the court’s new ideological makeup—three justices were appointed by former President Trump—and asked whether the public’s faith in the court could “survive the stench” of overturning Roe. Justice Stephen Breyer said the public might come to regard justices as “politicians,” adding, “That’s what kills us as an American institution.” A ruling, which could trigger abortion bans in 12 states if Roe is overturned, is expected by next summer.
What the editorials said
Conservative justices face a conundrum, said The Wall Street Journal. Do they “settle for an incremental ruling” that upholds the Mississippi law while leaving Roe and Casey intact? Or do they finally overturn these “misguided precedents” and risk a political backlash? Though this paper has “long supported” pre-viability abortion rights, Roe is plainly “one of the worst decisions” the court ever made. It overturned 50 state laws and made abortion “into a pitched political battle that nonetheless could not be settled politically