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The Supreme Court seemed ready to uphold a Mississippi law that bars abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a move that would significantly curtail the right to abortion in the United States.
The law in question is contrary to what the central holding of the decision is.
The Supreme Court's six conservative justices appeared willing to undermine that nearly 50-year-old precedent, but they seemed divided on whether the court should weaken the viability standard or overturn it entirely. The justices questioned Mississippi's arguments for doing away with the precedent.
John Roberts, the most moderate of the conservative majority, seemed to want a middle ground that would allow states to prohibit abortions before viability but not get rid of the Court's precedent. He said that Mississippi's law does not represent a departure from viability. 15 weeks is not enough time. During the arguments, Roberts asked.
Some of the other conservative justices said they might want to go further. The 1992 decision that upheld the right to abortion and prohibited laws that posed an "undue burden" on people seeking abortions was skepticism by the justices.
The Supreme Court should return the issue of abortion to the states because it would mean overruling the decision of the lower courts, argued Justices. He said that the Constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice, and that the Court should return to a position of neutrality.
The Biggest Fight for Abortion Rights in a Generation was Inside Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic.
Julie Rikelman, the lawyer for the Mississippi abortion clinic, said that overturning the law would not be a neutral act. She said that if women can't make decisions about their own pregnancies, they will never have equal status under the Constitution.
The case is the result of decades of work by advocates and legislators. Republican-led states have passed laws to restrict the procedure. In the South and Midwest, abortion access would be eliminated if the ruling is overturned. Nearly half of the states would ban abortion completely, forcing people to travel across state or national boundaries to get an abortion, or carrying unwanted pregnancies to term.
It is a long time coming.
The abortion rights activists were bracing for the moment. The fact that the Court agreed to consider the Mississippi case at all signaled that a majority of the justices were ready to revisit the abortion issue. Jackson Women's Health Organization immediately filed a lawsuit after Mississippi passed its abortion law. The law was ruled unconstitutional by both the federal district court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court agreed to take a case on the question of whether all abortion prohibitions should be unconstitutional after months of deliberations. Mississippi urged the justices to overturn the case completely.
The Supreme Court has heard several abortion-related disputes this term. It heard arguments over a Texas law that prohibits most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, but hasn't ruled on that yet. The decision in the Mississippi case is expected to be made by the end of June.
The Texas abortion law will be considered by the Supreme Court. Their decision could change the country.
A political case.
The justices did not mention the electoral implications of the Mississippi case on Wednesday, but several asked if the court would be seen as a political actor if it overturned a long-held precedent.
Liberal Justices asked if the institution would survive the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts. How will we survive if people believe that it is all political? How will the courts survive?
Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer said the same thing. He said that if the court was to overrule under fire, it would subvert the legitimacy of the court.
Elena Kagan argued that the court should be careful about changing precedent in order to prevent people from thinking that the court will go back and forth.
The fate of Wade may rest on this woman's shoulders.
The Court has become more conservative over the last few years as a result of three justices being nominated by President Donald Trump. Legal scholars predicted before Wednesday that the conservative justices would want to avoid being seen as partisan. Four of the court's justices have expressed concerns about that. The public's approval of the court fell to a historic low.
High profile cases have been dealt with by the justices. Roberts voted to uphold theAffordable Care Act before the presidential election.
Lawrence Baum, a political science professor at the Ohio State University who studies federal judicial decision making, said that the justices would likely be aware of how a ruling that avoids firing up Democratic voters on the issue of abortion could help Republicans. He said before Wednesday's arguments that the Court might want to find a way to make it seem like they didn't overturn the law.
Scott Stewart argued that the Court and the country have been damaged by the two men.
Stewart said in his opening argument that the abortion cases haunt the country. They undermine the law. They have stopped compromise. For 50 years they have kept this court at the center of a political battle that it can never resolve and they are alone. This court does not recognize a right to end a human life.
The viability question is posed.
The viability standard was the focus of most of the arguments.
If Mississippi's law prohibiting abortion is allowed to stand, that would move the line at which abortion limits are constitutional away from the current state of focusing on viability.
The right of a woman to choose, the right to control her own body, has been clearly set sinceCasey. During the arguments, Stewart was told to reject the line of viability and adopt something different.
Stewart said that if the Court does not overrule its precedent, it could offer a "clarified version" of the "undue burden" standard established inCasey that would allow abortion.
The right to abortion will be eliminated if the decision upholds Mississippi's law.
The lawyer for the Mississippi clinic and the U.S. Solicitor General argued in favor of the law. Mississippi has previously passed a six-week abortion ban, and many other states have similar laws that are currently blocked or making their way through the courts.
Prelogar said that the Court has correctly recognized that the Constitution protects a woman's fundamental right to decide whether to end a pregnancy before viability. The guarantee that the state can't force a woman to have a baby has engendered substantial individual and societal reliance. The real-world effects of overruling would be swift.
The Supreme Court is ready to limit abortion at historic arguments.
There is an update post.
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