<10:24 a.m.: It's On:
The Bombshell Has Landed, 6/24/22>
In any case, the old saying, "If you're not on the table, you're on the menu," has never felt more appropriate than it does now. Even so, what is done can always be undone, if the energy and the will exist to do it. Every effort to turn back the clock fails, at some point -- as King Canute discovered, when no pontoon boat arrived to pick him up, as he continued to rage against the tide.
Bangor Daily News:
After Telling Susan Collins It Was "Settled Law,"
Brett Kavanaugh Calls It "Wrongly Decided":
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/06/24/politics/after-telling-susan-collins-that-roe-was-settled-law-brett-kavanaugh-calls-it-wrongly-decided/
Business Insider: Justice Thomas Says
In the end, there were no surprises, when the bombshell dropped into my inbox ("BREAKING NEWS"). However, as expected, the 5-4 ruling held largely to the hectoring bluster of the infamous leaked draft opinion, as spelled out by its equally noxious author, "Supreme Court Justice" Sam Alito (“Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong, and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided," or so he said).
Also, as expected, the Trump-era court appointees, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorusch, and Brett Kavanaugh, voted exactly as their opponents had feared, all along.
To the end, though, Republican Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, apparently believed the meaningless, noncommittal reassurances of "respect for precedent" that Gorusch and Kavanaugh blandly trotted out to her, during their pre-confirmation interviews. (They lied, something that should be remembered if we survive the next turn in the election cycle.)
The same standard holds true for the Senate's other master of brow furrowing performance art, Joe Manchin ("D"-WV), whose stomach must also be spinning at the speed of sound -- since he was among three Democrats to vote for Gorusch's confirmation, and the only one who accepted Kavanaugh's ascension to the high court bench. A lonely place to be, isn't it? Especially in light of, how shall we put it, current events.
But, like his counterpart from Maine, Uncle Joe released a statement, voicing his troubles and concerns, as they like to call them in Washington: “I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans."
The same standard holds true for the Senate's other master of brow furrowing performance art, Joe Manchin ("D"-WV), whose stomach must also be spinning at the speed of sound -- since he was among three Democrats to vote for Gorusch's confirmation, and the only one who accepted Kavanaugh's ascension to the high court bench. A lonely place to be, isn't it? Especially in light of, how shall we put it, current events.
But, like his counterpart from Maine, Uncle Joe released a statement, voicing his troubles and concerns, as they like to call them in Washington: “I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans."
As many wags observed at the time, such posturing is the equivalent of believing the 411 scammer's equally breezy reassurances that your Ponzi scheme check is coming in the mail, after all.
Presumably, Colllins, in particular, will have some "'splainin' to do" when her re-election comes up in 2026 -- that is, if the next couple of election cycles don't end up being our last ones. But I digress.
Presumably, Colllins, in particular, will have some "'splainin' to do" when her re-election comes up in 2026 -- that is, if the next couple of election cycles don't end up being our last ones. But I digress.
Also, as expected, "Chief Justice" John Roberts did his usual meaningless difference-splitting act, by voting to uphold the Mississippi law that triggered the final mortal blow to Roe, yet avoiding the itch to join his more deeply reactionary colleagues in overturning it, yielding the final 5-4 margin. Call this approach repression with a friendly face, if you will, as we do.
Meanwhile, over in Germany, the Bundestag has just overturned a Nazi-era law forbidding doctors from providing information on abortion. The procedure is technically illegal in Germany, but is permissible under certain conditions, so long as it's done within a 12-week window. The Bundestag's action means that all convictions handed out since October 1990 under the law are null and void, and any current prosecutions are scrapped.
"For almost a century, doctors have been forbidden and punishable by penalty from providing factual information about methods and possible risks to women who are considering terminating a pregnancy," Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said, in an official statement. "Today, this distrust in women and distrust in doctors is coming to an end."
As for the US? Well, after today, it looks like the Ship of Distrust has definitely left the dock, with 12 states expected to spring "trigger laws" anticipating the end of Roe, and an additional 10 prepared to revive pre-Roe restrictions that had lain silent, yet still remained on the books. Call them fellow travelers in Alito's war against the latter half of the 20th Century, if you must. And we do.
"For almost a century, doctors have been forbidden and punishable by penalty from providing factual information about methods and possible risks to women who are considering terminating a pregnancy," Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said, in an official statement. "Today, this distrust in women and distrust in doctors is coming to an end."
As for the US? Well, after today, it looks like the Ship of Distrust has definitely left the dock, with 12 states expected to spring "trigger laws" anticipating the end of Roe, and an additional 10 prepared to revive pre-Roe restrictions that had lain silent, yet still remained on the books. Call them fellow travelers in Alito's war against the latter half of the 20th Century, if you must. And we do.
Prepare for the avalanche, as the Alito crew and their fellow reactionaries giddily pop their champagne corks, now that the dream they've worked so hard to achieve for 50 years has become an unwelcome, ugly reality.
Because, make no mistake, this won't end today with Roe, regardless of Alito's reassurances that his draft language only applies there. If you believe that, well -- I'll let you fill in the appropriate metaphor here. As another old joke runs: right wingers always move on to the next thing they swear they'll never, never do.
And what's more, they're coming after all of it -- contraception, gay marriage, interracial marriage (though that might require "Justice" Clarence Thomas to declare his own union with his insurrectionist trophy wife illegal).
You name it, it's all going up for grabs, as the Alito gang and its dominionist-minded allies mount their Final Full Court Press of Repression to outlaw anything and everything they don't accept, nor understand. Don't believe me? Thomas has already vowed as much, in his concurring opinion (see Business Insider link below).
Evidently, the same Sotomayor who showed such kind words on Thomas seems to feel a bit differently about him -- and, by implication, others like him -- lately, judging by the dissent she took, along with Justices Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson:
“And no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work. The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone. To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation.
"Most obviously, the right to terminate a pregnancy arose straight out of the right to purchase and use contraception. In turn, those rights led, more recently, to rights of same-sex intimacy and marriage. They are all part of the same constitutional fabric, protecting autonomous decisionmaking over the most personal of life decisions.
“The majority could write just as long an opinion showing, for example, that until the mid-20th century, ‘there was no support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain [contraceptives].
Evidently, the same Sotomayor who showed such kind words on Thomas seems to feel a bit differently about him -- and, by implication, others like him -- lately, judging by the dissent she took, along with Justices Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson:
“And no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work. The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone. To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation.
"Most obviously, the right to terminate a pregnancy arose straight out of the right to purchase and use contraception. In turn, those rights led, more recently, to rights of same-sex intimacy and marriage. They are all part of the same constitutional fabric, protecting autonomous decisionmaking over the most personal of life decisions.
“The majority could write just as long an opinion showing, for example, that until the mid-20th century, ‘there was no support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain [contraceptives].
"So one of two things must be true. Either the majority does not really believe in its own reasoning. Or if it does, all rights that have no history stretching back to the mid-19th century are insecure. Either the mass of the majority’s opinion is hypocrisy, or additional constitutional rights are under threat. It is one or the other.”
So what happens now? Well, in the short run, cry, 'n' yell, rant 'n' rave, scream 'n' rage -- get it out of your system, while it's still possible. And then, start figuring out how to make them regret the hornet's nest that they'll almost certainly stir up.
The outward confidence of these Supreme Court goons says one thing about themselves. However, the eight-foot, black, Berlin Wall of protective fencing that they've chosen to surround their marbled terrarium says something else.
No matter. The goal should be to make them regret what they've done, publicly and privately, politically and personally, and most importantly, at the ballot box, while we still have that opportunity left, since it's never been more obvious how desperately we need a massive political realignment, something of the likes we haven't seen since 1932, or the post-Watergate era of 1974.
That starts by sweeping out the eldercrats who've come to dominate our political lives, a moment that's long, long and looonnnggg overdue. We should not have nearly 90-year-old Senators -- Creepy Charles Grassley, come on down; Declining Dianne Feinstein, come on down -- running for re-election, plumping for policies they will never have to personally stare down. Our country should not remain in the grip of our entrenched grandfathers and great-grandfathers, plain and simple. That includes taming the Court, as well, which seems hellbent on taking a wrecking ball to our lives as we've known them.
And if there is a moment of solace to take from today's ruling, it's this: the war against abortion is essentially a war against nouns. And this much we know, and can say, with some kind of certainty. Like all previous wars against nouns, like Afghanistan and Iraq, Prohibition and pornography -- pick whatever example you like -- the outcome essentially remains the same, whether the warmongers understand that reality, or not.
The noun survives, stronger and more resilient than ever. Banning alcohol didn't stop anyone from drinking, and banning abortion won't stop those with the means and the money to continue getting them, including all those Republican mistresses that so many of these "family values"-minded Congressmen and Senators collect, as they grub their way up the ladders of power.
In any case, the old saying, "If you're not on the table, you're on the menu," has never felt more appropriate than it does now. Even so, what is done can always be undone, if the energy and the will exist to do it. Every effort to turn back the clock fails, at some point -- as King Canute discovered, when no pontoon boat arrived to pick him up, as he continued to rage against the tide.
So, with that being said, let's all take a deep breath, then a deeper one still, and think about what needs to happen next. And let the resistance begin this instant, this minute, this second. Because there's so much work to be done, and no time left to waste. --The Reckoner
Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
After The Statutory Moment Of Silence):
After The Statutory Moment Of Silence):
Bangor Daily News:
After Telling Susan Collins It Was "Settled Law,"
Brett Kavanaugh Calls It "Wrongly Decided":
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/06/24/politics/after-telling-susan-collins-that-roe-was-settled-law-brett-kavanaugh-calls-it-wrongly-decided/
Business Insider: Justice Thomas Says
The Supreme Court Should Reconsider Rulings
That Protect Access To Contraception And Same-Sex Marriage...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/justice-thomas-says-the-supreme-court-should-reconsider-rulings-that-protect-access-to-contraception-and-same-sex-marriage-as-the-court-overturns-roe-v-wade/ar-AAYPDpt?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=baca76ddc17e4c658c6f4fbbd8f411e5
Newsweek:
Susan Collins' "Deep Concerns" Mocked
Newsweek:
Susan Collins' "Deep Concerns" Mocked
After Roe v. Wade Overturning:
https://www.newsweek.com/susan-collins-deep-concerns-mocked-after-roe-v-wade-overturning-1718959
https://www.newsweek.com/susan-collins-deep-concerns-mocked-after-roe-v-wade-overturning-1718959
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