Sotomayor warns of danger to Supreme Court legitimacy in abortion fight: 'How will we

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

https://news.yahoo.com/sotomayor-war...171650226.html

Yahoo News
Sotomayor warns of danger to Supreme Court legitimacy in abortion fight: 'How will we survive?'
Christopher Wilson
Christopher Wilson·Senior Writer
Wed, December 1, 2021, 11:16 AM
In this article:

Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States



Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned whether the legitimacy of the Supreme Court would endure if it overturned abortion rights during a landmark hearing on a Mississippi law restricting the procedure.

“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” Sotomayor said during oral arguments Wednesday morning. “I don’t see how it is possible.”

The case being heard, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the two linchpins of abortion-rights protections. The Mississippi law, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks, was blocked by a lower court. But anti-abortion advocates hope that the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court will deliver a favorable ruling.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor listens during a hearing at the Supreme Court.
Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. (Erin Schaff/New York Times/Pool via AP)
If Roe were to be overturned, abortion would likely become illegal in 22 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion-rights research group.

Sotomayor said that state legislatures are moving forward with abortion restrictions “because we have new justices,” referring to the three appointees by former President Donald Trump — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Those appointments have shifted the balance of the court to 6-3 in favor of conservatives. Sotomayor was appointed by Barack Obama in 2009.

“If people actually believe that it’s all political, how will we survive?” Sotomayor continued, arguing that any right, including the Second Amendment, could be in danger if the court’s legitimacy is undermined. “How will the court survive?”

Some justices have spent the past few months attempting to defend the legitimacy of the court as more than a political entity, but a September Gallup poll found record-low support for the branch. In the survey, just 40 percent of Americans said they approved of the job the court is doing, down from 49 percent in July. The poll was taken after the court declined to block a restrictive abortion law in Texas.

Chief Justice John Roberts, a Republican appointee who sometimes sides with the court’s liberal wing, is thought to be particularly concerned with maintaining the court’s legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Stephen Parlato of Boulder, Colo., holds a sign that reads
Stephen Parlato of Boulder, Colo., at a demonstration of abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion protesters in front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
If the court were to overturn Roe, polling indicates that could further diminish its standing in public opinion. A September survey from Yahoo News/YouGov found that 55 percent of respondents said they opposed overturning the ruling, while 26 percent supported reversing it.

That is in line with a poll last month from ABC News and the Washington Post, which found 60 percent in support of upholding Roe versus 27 percent who wished to overturn it. That survey also found that 58 percent of Americans are against state legislatures making it harder for abortion clinics to operate. It also revealed that just 20 percent of Americans said the decision of whether a woman can have an abortion should be regulated by law, versus 75 percent who said it should be left to the woman and her doctor.

The court shifted to the right during Trump’s presidency. Before Trump took office, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold a hearing for Merrick Garland, Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative stalwart.

The Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Gorsuch in 2017. It confirmed Kavanaugh, another conservative, the following year to replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy, long seen as the court’s key swing vote. And in the weeks before the 2020 election, McConnell pushed through the confirmation of Barrett, who replaced the late liberal jurist Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

What outlandish rot this filthy POS woman utters.
Sotto blotto the ugly ffing pig, radical set in place by the totally corrupt dems.
The were hundreds of likely and far more qualified candidates to fill the spot that was gifted to this blithering idiot.
Now we get to see why the usual corrupt party and its fake worthless POS obama chose her.
The scum obama also chose Kagan to be in place when the obamacare crap hit the court.
And she refused to recuse herself-thus showing what a ffing dishonorable hag she is too.
Both of them totally dishonorable and totally political.
Only stench that she smells is the one that both she and Kagan brought to the chambers.
Neither one of the two should be in that position, any decent person sees and knows the truth of that..-Tyr

[Gunny]

She needs to get over the drama queen act and act like a Supreme Court Justice for once.

This is a lose-lose deal, and any rightwingers that think overturning Roe v Wade is going to be some kind of win, they're thinking with something other than the law or their brains. Before it's stated and the usual emotional, name-calling BS begins, I am 100% against abortion. I voted against abortion when it was separate issue, and I voted for Abbott. I'm damned sure against ANY tax dollars being used to fund it. I'm against there even being an organization like PP to sell and support it.

I'm against, or for, a lot of damned things I'm quite sure a lot of people are not.

IMO, the political damage that will be done by overturning Roe v Wade at this time is not worth it.

[Kathianne]

She needs to get over the drama queen act and act like a Supreme Court Justice for once.

This is a lose-lose deal, and any rightwingers that think overturning Roe v Wade is going to be some kind of win, they're thinking with something other than the law or their brains. Before it's stated and the usual emotional, name-calling BS begins, I am 100% against abortion. I voted against abortion when it was separate issue, and I voted for Abbott. I'm damned sure against ANY tax dollars being used to fund it. I'm against there even being an organization like PP to sell and support it.

I'm against, or for, a lot of damned things I'm quite sure a lot of people are not.

IMO, the political damage that will be done by overturning Roe v Wade at this time is not worth it.

Roe was bad law, not based on precedents and only by stretching the 14th beyond recognition. Even Ginsberg heavily criticized it.

If the SCOTUS hadn't ruled favorably, the states were changing, not in the direction I liked, but loosening the laws. I think if this goes the way it appears, for the first time in my memory, states are going to be able to set more rules. If they go too far, the voters will respond.

[Gunny]

Roe was bad law, not based on precedents and only by stretching the 14th beyond recognition. Even Ginsberg heavily criticized it.

If the SCOTUS hadn't ruled favorably, the states were changing, not in the direction I liked, but loosening the laws. I think if this goes the way it appears, for the first time in my memory, states are going to be able to set more rules. If they go too far, the voters will respond.

Maybe. I don't see a reason to load the Dem's currently-empty gun with ammo; especially, since they still have time to screw over the balance of the Court.

[Kathianne]

Maybe. I don't see a reason to load the Dem's currently-empty gun with ammo; especially, since they still have time to screw over the balance of the Court.

I guess my answer would be that there likely will be fewer abortions. Then there is that one branch overreach will have been reversed. The people get so few wins.

For all the gnashing of teeth, abortion will remain available and affordable, free in most states for indigent, with states like NY and IL offering free to anyone from states they deem too restrictive.

[fj1200]

IMO, the political damage that will be done by overturning Roe v Wade at this time is not worth it.

I have this fear that you could be correct. But...

For all the gnashing of teeth, abortion will remain available and affordable, free in most states for indigent, with states like NY and IL offering free to anyone from states they deem too restrictive.

I think it won't be as earth shattering as people think. It will still be legal for most of the country, population wise, and it should have always been a decision at the state level like euthanasia is.

[Kathianne]

I have this fear that you could be correct. But...



I think it won't be as earth shattering as people think. It will still be legal for most of the country, population wise, and it should have always been a decision at the state level like euthanasia is.

Indeed, a return to neutrality as I believe Kavanaugh kept saying.

[Kathianne]

There will likely be unintended consequences if things are rolled back. May be necessary, but won't be without repercussions. Truth is, some old fights will be "new" again.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/after-roe/

[fj1200]

“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” “I don’t see how it is possible.” “because we have new justices,” “If people actually believe that it’s all political, how will we survive?” “How will the court survive?”

Amazingly the audio sounded even worse. I guess it is fitting for her to decry politics now when politics back then are why we have the abortion environment we have today. She could also do her "statesmanship" role by attempting to describe to people the why rather than continue to feed into their whining. Especially considering it's not a decision in the making since "three new justices" rather it's been almost 50 years of incremental moves toward this direction.

[fj1200]

IMO, the political damage that will be done by overturning Roe v Wade at this time is not worth it.

I don't think there really was any political damage. I think most, all?, of the governor's in state's that tightened abortion laws won on Tuesday. Kemp, DeSantis, Abbott... Those three at least won fairly handily.

[Gunny]

I don't think there really was any political damage. I think most, all?, of the governor's in state's that tightened abortion laws won on Tuesday. Kemp, DeSantis, Abbott... Those three at least won fairly handily.

Disagree. The damage is pretty obvious. A demoralized, losing Dem party getting called out at every turn got motivated to vote by this decision.

Was it the sole "game changer"? Of course not. The decision was worse timing than Trump's mouth; who, IMO, WAS the biggest game changer.

From what I have seen so far, the economy was the biggest concern for voters and abortion second only to that. There's a LOT of political money and power behind the latter. Enough to buy votes.

[fj1200]

^I don't think the evidence agrees with that. The Republicans who lost lost because of, you know... not abortion.

[Gunny]

^I don't think the evidence agrees with that. The Republicans who lost lost because of, you know... not abortion.

That's what I just said. Stop trying to make an argument out of agreeing with me

Trump-backed candidates are getting piss-poor support. A clear indictment of Trump.

It still should have been a walk. Minus motivating the demoralized Dems without a row to hoe. Just enough to turn a romp into a competition.

Doesn't matter anyway. This is quibbling. The giant orange man in the room is THE biggest problem the Republican't Party has. He's got to go or someone needs to wake to the fact the right won't take 2024 either.

[fj1200]

Bad reading comprehension skills this morning. Bad!