One Liberal Senator Fights Back Against Judicial Tyranny

( I am posting this somewhat older article highlighting what we all need to confront especially in light of new information re: Clarence Thomas. )



Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has had it with a feral Trump judge.

BY RYAN COOPER FEBRUARY 22, 2023

In the Dobbs decision, Justice Samuel Alito held that “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” The Wall Street Journal editorial board agreed, claiming the decision “returned the profound moral issue of abortion to the states and democratic assent, where it has always belonged.” As a statement of current legal reality, this was true. Sweeping and viciously punitive new laws outlawing abortion have thus far been passed at the state level in places where conservatives control government. The opposite has been the case in states with liberal control, where laws protecting abortion have been passed. And state initiatives last year put the question to voters, who overwhelmingly sided with the position of granting a right to an abortion.

But in terms of the intentions of the conservative movement, Alito and the Journal were lying. The plan is and always has been to ban all abortion at the national level, by hook or by crook. That is exactly what they are attempting to do right now. The strategy is an attempt to get one particularly feral Trump-appointed federal judge to ban abortion pills, which now make up more than half of all abortions in the U.S. This would be a major step on the path to a national abortion ban, and it would not come from the people or their elected representatives, but directly from the courts.



Some months ago, I argued against the very concept of judicial review. With rare exceptions, the Supreme Court has been a reactionary institution using its rule-by-decree powers to strike down laws protecting civil rights, unions, voting rights, and so on. Other peer democracies do not have nearly so powerful courts, and survive just fine.

Now Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is taking this line of thinking to heart, at least to a limited extent. In a recent speech, he argued that should this conservative judge try to ban abortion pills, President Biden should take a drastic step. “The power of the judiciary begins and ends with its legitimacy in the eyes of the public,” he said. “If that's what the ruling would do, the answer is to ignore it, at least until there is a final ruling on the underlying matter by the Supreme Court.”
https://prospect.org/justice/02-22-2023-wyden-fights-judicial-tyranny-abortion/


( Going forward our leadership must be bold. )