FAQs about SCOTUS, Roe & More
Answers to some of the most popular questions being asked since Friday's Supreme Court decision.
Let’s get right to it.
Q. Can a Supreme Court decision be overturned?
A. Obviously, yes, since Friday’s decision overturned a ruling from 1973. But can a decision that’s been reversed be turned back again? The best answer is, maybe.
The court would need to have a liberal majority, which would not happen overnight. “It took Republicans five decades to line up the exact scenario required to achieve their goal of overturning Roe,” reporter Graeme Massie wrote in an article for The Independent. “Democrats would need to hold both the White House and US Senate at the same time as seats became open, presumably through death, as right-wing justices are unlikely to retire under those circumstances.”
Another option would be to codify Roe into federal law, but that comes with its own set of complications, mainly that it would likely make its way back to the Supreme Court, where the decidedly conservative majority would again strike it down.
Q. Why didn’t a Democrat president ever codify Roe?
A. Barack Obama has gotten heat recently for not taking the steps to codify Roe when he might have had the chance. “…The Freedom of Choice Act…would have effectively enshrined Roe v. Wade into law,” explains Newsweek. “In 2007, then-Senator Obama told Planned Parenthood [that] signing that law would be ‘the first thing I'd do as president.’ For a brief period during the 111th Congress, Democrats had a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority in the Senate when independents who caucus with the Democrats are taken into account but the Freedom of Choice Act never became law.”
Bill Clinton considered codifying Roe while he was President, but in the end let it go. “When it starts to take too long, you see the Democratic Party essentially saying: Well, we’re not going to worry about this, we’ll get to this later,” Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University who studies abortion, said in this article.
Q. Some people are angry with Supreme Court justices who suggested they wouldn’t overturn Roe but indeed did. Is it possible to impeach a Supreme Court justice?
A. To find an impeached Supreme Court justice, you have to go back to 1804. Associate Justice Samuel Chase, who had been appointed by George Washington, was impeached for “arbitrary and oppressive conduct of trials.” Chase was acquitted the next year and served on the court until his death in 1811. It must be proven that there is “substantial questionable conduct” for the impeachment of a sitting Supreme Court judge; otherwise, they are appointed for life or until they retire.
Q. Has there ever been such a contentious decision before by the Supreme Court?
A. Of course.
Dred Scott v Sanford in 1857 determined that “all blacks — regardless of whether they were slaves or free men — were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The court also ruled that the 1820 Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The decision meant that slavery would be constitutionally permitted throughout the entire country and its territories.”
Plessy v Ferguson in 1896 essentially stated that “the Constitution guaranteed legal, but not social, equality: Segregation was constitutional.” John Marshall Harlan, the only dissenter, wrote that "our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." The “separate but equal” ruling was finally overturned in 1954 through the case Brown v Board of Education.
For those too young to remember the “hanging chad” controversy during the 2000 presidential election, read about the Supreme Court decision that ultimately gave George W. Bush victory over Al Gore. In Florida, just 537 votes separated the candidates. A machine recount of ballots began, but in some cases, the state decided to manually check ballots to see if there had been confusion among voters. The controversy made its way to the Supreme Court, where it was determined “that the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was invalid, and that no alternative recount could be performed within the state's legal time limit. On 12 December 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the original Florida results would stand,” and Bush was declared the winner of the election.
Q. Will seeking care for miscarriages now be illegal in some states? Does every state’s abortion law include exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother?
A. Be very careful what you read on this topic. A lot of “experts” emphatically claim that you will automatically be arrested for having a miscarriage. Comments like “I hope your daughter isn’t a victim of rape” make their way around social media to elicit fear in pro-lifers.
Very simply, each state will have its own laws on abortion restrictions, if any. And where there are restrictions that create a gray area for women, criminal justice officials are working to ensure criminality doesn’t happen. Some states do have laws in place in which someone performing an abortion could be arrested, but whether these will be acted upon remains to be seen.
Some states do not have exceptions for rape and incest, but all of them appear to have exceptions for abortion when the health of the mother is at stake. That would seem to include miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and other non-viable pregnancies. It’s nearly impossible, though, to find an unbiased list of each state’s exceptions and restrictions on abortion. If you are curious, visit specific state government websites or call your local representative’s office.
Q. Are some companies really offering to pay travel expenses for their employees to get abortions?
A. Yes.
Q. Have any companies said they will offer financial and other support to employees who are pregnant and will be carrying their pregnancies to full-term?
A. Not really but here is a list of major companies that offer excellent paid maternity leave.
BONUS QUESTIONS:
Q. Is it true that those who disagree with the overturning of Roe
are all Democrats
who hate babies in the womb
and hate all organized religions, especially Christians
and don’t do anything to help women who choose to follow through with their pregnancies?
A. No, that is a gross and dangerous generalization.
Q. Is it true that those who agree with the overturning of Roe
are all Republicans
who only care about babies in the womb
and belong to Puritan-like Christian denominations
and don’t do anything to help babies and their mothers following pregnancy?
A. No, that is a gross and dangerous generalization.