The Supreme Court is unscientific and medically negligent

Robert Pearl
July 25, 2022

A pair of Supreme Court rulings in June — one on gun rights, the other on abortion — have elicited strong, partisan reactions.

In recent weeks, critics have called out inconsistencies in the court’s decisions: One ruling restricts the ability of states to regulate guns while the other expands the right of states to regulate abortions. The result, opponents say, is that Americans are free to carry guns but forced to carry babies.

Continued: https://thefulcrum.us/Government/Judicial/supreme-court-decisions

25.07.2022

Justice Stephen Breyer

USA – A new Supreme Court justice’s dissent on abortion could be game-changing

By Rachel Rebouché and Linda C. McClain, opinion contributors, The Atlantic
02/11/22

With Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement recently announced, national attention has focused on who President Biden will nominate in keeping his promise to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

Another aspect of Biden’s nomination has received far less attention: A new justice on a lopsidedly conservative court would likely join Justice Sonia Sotomayor in writing dissents speaking to the future. The vital role of dissenting opinions is evident this term, as the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade by early summer or to weaken it so thoroughly that Roe poses no meaningful barrier to states criminalizing abortion.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/593722-a-new-supreme-court-justices-dissent-on-abortion-could-be-game-changing?rl=1

Stephen Breyer’s Unique Legacy on Abortion

His Supreme Court successor should keep in mind the power of digging deep into data — and reminding all the justices how their rulings would affect real Americans.

Opinion by MARY ZIEGLER
01/28/2022

Justice Stephen Breyer is scheduled to leave the Supreme Court just as his conservative colleagues are poised to dismantle a key part of his legacy: the court’s approach to a right to choose abortion.

Breyer’s name might not immediately come to mind when anyone thinks about abortion rights. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late feminist icon, was arguably the court’s most eloquent defender of reproductive rights. Justice Sonia Sotomayor has taken on that role in the current court. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who long cast the swing vote in abortion cases, helped both to save abortion rights in 1992 and to water down protections for them, holding that abortion regulations would be unconstitutional only if they created an “undue burden.”

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/28/steve-breyens-supremecourt-replacement-abortion-data-00000019

Stephen Breyer calls Supreme Court decision on Texas abortion law ‘very, very, very wrong

By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Thu September 9, 2021

Washington (CNN) US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer called the high court's recent refusal to block a controversial Texas law that bars abortions at six weeks "very, very, very wrong."

"I'll add one more 'very,' " the liberal Justice told NPR in an interview published Thursday. "And I wrote a dissent. And that's the way it works."

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/09/politics/stephen-breyer-texas-abortion/index.html

USA – Judges are split on how seriously to take John Roberts’ abortion opinion

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Wed April 14, 2021

(CNN) Almost a year after Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Supreme Court's liberals to cast the determinative vote to block a Louisiana abortion law, his opinion in the case is causing deep divisions among lower court judges and lawyers.

Last June, Roberts, who had never voted against an abortion restriction, spelled out his thinking in a concurring opinion, perhaps to bring clarity to lower courts dealing with the explosive issue.

Instead, that opinion has added to the tangle of cases and rulings throughout the country, some of which are now making their way up to the high court.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/politics/john-roberts-abortion/index.html

USA – Supreme Court conservatives want to topple abortion rights — but can’t seem to agree on how

By Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer
Fri March 19, 2021

(CNN) Conservative Supreme Court justices have demonstrated a desire to reverse prior decisions on abortion rights. The question, with Chief Justice John Roberts no longer the undisputed swing vote on abortion, is when and how far at least five justices will go to overturn rulings that support a constitutional right to end a pregnancy.

The aims of individual justices, based on their recent writings, range from reversing Roe v. Wade to forbidding clinics from challenging restrictions on behalf of women to relaxing the standard that states must meet to limit women's access to the procedure.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/19/politics/abortion-supreme-court-conservatives-thomas-roberts/index.html

USA – Supreme Court’s split decision for abortion rights gives opponents an unlikely boost

Richard Wolf
Aug 31, 2020, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court's decision in June striking down a Louisiana restriction on abortion clinics is giving abortion opponents an unlikely opportunity in other states.

Officials in Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma have in recent weeks argued that the high court's 5-4 ruling actually bolsters their defense of anti-abortion laws, even though the justices ruled against Louisiana.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/31/abortion-supreme-courts-ruling-abortion-rights-boosts-opponents/5624869002/

USA – Abortion Restrictions After June Medical Services

A concurring opinion leaves the standard for determining the constitutionality of abortion restrictions in doubt.

Aug 4, 2020
Rachel Rebouche

At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in June Medical Services v. Russo. At issue was a Louisiana law, the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act. Like hundreds of similar state laws across the country, this law would have made abortion services difficult, if not impossible, to obtain in Louisiana.

A majority of the Court struck down the Louisiana law, but five justices did not agree on why the law was unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts concurred only in judgment—and his concurrence may be the key to understanding what regulations the Court will or will not permit in the future.

Continued: https://www.theregreview.org/2020/08/04/rebouche-abortion-restrictions-june-medical/

US Supreme Court Undercuts Access To Birth Control Under Obamacare

July 8, 2020
Nina Totenberg

The U.S. Supreme Court has made it more difficult for women to get access to birth control as part of their health plans if their employer has religious or moral objections to contraceptives.

The opinion upheld a Trump administration rule that significantly cut back on the Affordable Care Act requirement that insurers provide free birth control coverage as part of almost all health care plans.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/08/884104509/supreme-court-undercuts-access-to-birth-control-under-obamacare

USA – Think Abortion Rights Are Safe Now? Maybe Not

July 01, 2020
Sarah Boonin

Abortion rights advocates have reason to be relieved with the Supreme Court’s opinion Monday.

In a move that surprised many -- including me -- Chief Justice John Roberts joined the four liberal justices and struck down a Louisiana law that would have greatly limited the number of abortions in the state, forcing many of the state's most vulnerable women to travel long distances, face delays or forgo care altogether. The court’s ruling in June Medical Services v. Russo will allow the state's remaining clinics to continue serving the 10,000 women who seek abortions annually.

Continued: https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/07/01/abortion-supreme-court-june-medical-services-sarah-boonin