Commentary
To understand the rage over the Supreme Court’s long-overdue abandonment of Roe v. Wade (pdf), you have to think how political operatives do. It’s not how the rest of us think.
To the rest of us, whatever our position on legalized abortion, the anger at the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (pdf) seems irrational and out of proportion. Although we all are disappointed when a court decision doesn’t go our way, the left’s response to overruling Roe goes well beyond mere disappointment.
Most people will put the Dobbs case in perspective: The justices didn’t seize power; they gave it up. They restored abortion policy to the democratic process. The decision they overturned was not a landmark in great judicial reasoning; it was, as pro-choice commentator Michael Kinsley says, a “muddle.” The Dobbs opinion didn’t upend a national consensus, as would be the case if the court declared Social Security unconstitutional. Rather, Dobbs withdrew the court from a highly contentious issue that was poisoning judicial nomination hearings—and, indeed, our entire national discourse….