The court is accelerating our country’s polarization.
By Jon D. Michaels
January 10, 2022
Last summer, Texas lawmakers gambled on a long-shot legal workaround. Unable — yet — to ban abortions outright, they crafted SB 8, which authorized any private individual to bring civil suit against those who facilitate abortions. To encourage such private enforcement actions, Texas prescribed large monetary bounties.
The effects of SB 8’s enactment were immediate and palpable: Clinics across the state canceled appointments and shuttered their doors — a devastating blow to those in need of abortions. While acknowledging those hardships, many observers nonethelesspresumed that SB 8’s effects would be short-lived. Surely, they thought, the Supreme Court would not permit such a blatant circumvention of a long-standing (and rather popular) federal constitutional protection. Yet that’s precisely what a majority of the court did.
Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/10/court-legal-vigilantes-polarize/