The state of Texas has passed a blatantly unconstitutional law on abortion. And the Supreme Court has refused to do anything about it. The New York Times editorializes:
The Texas law, known as SB 8, is the most brazenly anti-abortion law in the country. It bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. By itself, this violates a woman’s constitutional right to get an abortion, which the court has protected at least until the fetus is viable outside the womb, at around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. That is why courts have struck down similar six-week bans in other states.
But worse still is the law's enforcement provision:
Instead of making it enforceable the usual way, through government officials, they authorized private citizens — in Texas or anywhere else — to sue anyone who is involved in performing an abortion or who “aids or abets” one: not only a woman’s doctor, but her family, her friends, potentially even the taxi driver who takes her to the clinic. There is no exception for cases of rape or incest, and the plaintiff doesn’t need to have any connection to the woman in order to bring the suit. If it succeeds, he or she is entitled to $10,000 plus legal fees. It’s a dream for bounty hunters and a nightmare for everyone else.
This is vigilante justice pure and simple. And it also nullifies the process of judicial review. Eight of the nine Supreme Court justices have law degrees from either Harvard or Yale. The majority ruling was unsigned and did nothing to enjoin the law.
So it has come to this. That old American saw that the United States is "a country of laws not men" is pure claptrap.
Image: Sites At Penn State
8 comments:
If you support putting a bounty on random pregnant women: Please use your Dell computer on the AT&T network to book a flight on American Airlines and drive to the airport in your Toyota Tundra fuelled up at Exxon, then fly yourself straight to Texas. Thank you.
The GOP dog has finally caught the car and things may not turn out as expected. For over a generation Republicans have been attracting the American Taliban vote by promising to end abortion, while counting on the courts to keep the scam going by blocking attempts to overturn Roe v Wade. There was no downside for the GOP. They could craft the most draconian laws to satisfy Taliban bloodlust and rail against the "liberal" judges safe in the knowledge that they wouldn't actually have to piss off the 3/4 of Americans, including almost 3/5 of Republicans, who support the right of women to choose an abortion.
Now that the Supreme Court has used the shadow docket to kill Roe without argument, the GOP may have kicked over a hornet nest. Women and their supporters will be highly motivated to turn out and vote Dem. And, having achieved their long-held goal, Talibangelicals will be less motivated. Worse, what will they now demand as the price for continuing to vote Republican? Things are bound to get interesting.
Cap
All of those companies are headquartered in Texas, Anon. You're right. You should not think beyond Texas. Unfortunately, the Texas law will be a template for many more state laws. Please initial your next comment.
I like that word, Cap --"Talibanegelicals." That's exactly who and what they are.
This could be the Republicans' mid-term gift to Joe Biden.
They've given the Dems the means to attack the radical right as a threat to minorities, women and civil society itself.
We're witnessing the "house divided against itself" that Lincoln warned of as the US moved toward civil war. The camel's back can't take much more of this.
America has witnessed its first real summer of climate breakdown. Unprecedented wildfires, megadrought in the southwest leaving the vital Colorado River incapable of providing water to the five states that depend on it, drought across the Grain Belt, flash floods wreaking havoc in Tennessee and elsewhere and now, hurricane season.
Not that many of Cap's Talibangelicals actually read it but their Bible captures this moment:
"The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall." Matthew 7:24-27
"Great was its fall" indeed.
It's remarkable how ignorant these folks are, Mound. Faith without knowledge is as empty as faith without good works.
The Democrats were playing a different side of the same game that Cap describes. They really didn't think the Republicans would actually attack Roe v. Wade. If they did they certainly haven't done much to stop Republicans from appointing judges or to seriously pushback when Republicans blocked their own SCOTUS picks.
Rather than spending two-plus years screeching about imaginary Trump/Russia collusion, they could have done something about Republican election fraud and gerrymandering.
If Hillary really wanted to win in 2016 why did she pick a vocally anti-choice running-mate?
Both of these parties are playing a sick, sick game. It seems that the Democrats are either grossly incompetent or else it suits them and the oligarchy to allow the Republicans to become as horrible and loathsome as possible so that decent people will feel compelled to vote Democrat regardless of how useless and corrupt they are.
It's a screwed-up country, thwap.
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