Protests won’t influence Supreme Court vote

More bad news for certain college students facing loan debt: It looks like you’re wasting your money.

Somehow, gaggles of young adults have managed to make it to the university level without understanding how our government works.

As the Hill reported, students at a number of colleges and universities across the U.S. planned to stage walkouts Thursday in response to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion reversing the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

The Reproductive Freedom Protest planned to stage walkouts at more than 20 universities across the county.

Those participating include students at Hamilton College, Brown University, Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Purdue University, Virginia Tech University, the University of California, Berkeley, Florida International University and the University of Virginia, among others.

RFP student organizer Dewayne Martin told The Hill that the goal of the student movement is to influence the Supreme Court’s pending decision and mobilize more pro-abortion rights candidates to run in state elections.

Do these students, or any of the other protesters who’ve taken to the streets against the impending end of Roe, actually think that the Supreme Court makes, or reverses decisions based on how many people march with signs and shout slogans?

The chances that the Supreme Court justices are pulling up YouTube videos of prochoice demonstrations around the country as they confer over the final opinion on Roe are slim to none.

“Our third goal, ultimately, is to show students … and show people in this fight that we have everything we need, no matter what level of organizing experience that you have, no matter where you come from, no matter what your background is, no matter where, no matter what color you are, no matter what your race, no matter any of that. You are ready and you are here for this moment,” Martin, a sophomore public policy major at Hamilton College, said. “And you are the right person for the moment.”

Great speech from Martin — rousing and passionate. But if the “movement” is a grassroots effort to change a Supreme Court decision, they are shouting for nothing.

The protests also aim to mobilize more pro-abortion rights candidates to run in state elections.

As in Democrats — who do not have to be convinced to support abortion rights.

But what Martin and other protesters who’ve come out in favor of Roe being the law of the land are missing is that it’s not so much about getting prochoice candidates on state ballots. Local elections are usually a showdown of a Democrat and Republican candidate, with a smattering of independents here and there.

It’s about voters.

As Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the leaked draft of the opinion, obtained by Politico, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Some 23 states have bans or restrictions on abortions, or are set to reinstate bans if Roe is rescinded. And though the prochoice movement is large and vocal, there’s also a sizable number of pro-life voters who are on board with overturning Roe.

What to do in the wake of the final Roe decision is being duked out in the halls of Congress by lawmakers who bring entrenched views on abortion to the table.

The student movement may be an enthusiastic one, ready for action — but it’s unlikely to move the needle.