Dems’ plan is simply Supreme folly
The leak of a draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade could give a jolt to Democrats headed for devastating defeats this November but it’s doubtful it will significantly change the outcome of the elections.
It shows how desperate Democrats are to avoid a midterm disaster that they are now pinning their hopes on the issue of abortion fueling a major change in the electorate.
But it won’t work. While a majority of Americans support keeping abortion legal, abortion rights will not be the major issue in the elections, and polls have consistently shown that issues like inflation, unemployment and crime are more important to voters.
Some suburban women may be affected by the overturning of abortion rights but those same voters also care about crime in their streets and soaring prices at the supermarket and gas pump.
In fact Republicans and conservatives, especially Christian conservatives, may be more fired up about abortion than Democrats.
The Democrats are somehow asking voters to ignore massive failures at the White House with President Biden in office and in Congress with Nancy Pelosi at the helm, and vote to save Roe v. Wade.
That’s a dubious strategy, but it may be the only one the Dems have left to play.
That’s why Democrats across the country on Tuesday were exhorting voters and abortion rights supporters to wake up and mobilize. They are hoping the ruling will drive turnout up in November.
“We, for now, have the right to vote. And we must execute on that,” U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said at a rally in front of the State House. “Our answer to this attack on our constitutional rights, on the fundamentals of our democracy, is to flex our electoral muscle.”
Even moderate Republican governors like Chris Sununu in New Hampshire and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts vowed to protect abortion rights in their states in case Roe is now struck down.
Abortion rights supporters and lawmakers like U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren also will now resurrect the issue of packing the Supreme Court with more Democratic-friendly justices. The report about the draft Roe v. Wade decision also is sparking Democrats to call for ending the legislative filibuster.
And Democrats are also likely to try and shame the justices into reversing their draft decision and keeping Roe v. Wade the law of the land.
That’s what the leakers of the court’s draft decision had in mind.
This despite the fact that bullying the Supreme Court to change its mind or injecting politics into the high court’s deliberations is tampering with the constitutional process.
The Supreme Court is supposed to be above partisan politics, and the five justices who support overturning Roe v. Wade are not likely to change just because they’re getting pressured.