While we suffer many problems in this country, perhaps the worst is the double-barreled whammy of a corrupt media and a lazy populace. Americans are woefully ignorant on civics, especially the operations of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
Americans no longer read – (you dear readers being the exception to the rule). Information is fed through social media and the mainstream media (MSM). As such, citizens collectively know more about Kardashian family history than American history. This self-inflicted deficiency allows clearly biased news outlets to control opinions formed, and then later, actions and reactions. This goes on without scrutiny or audit by the listener. False information is presented and accepted with grateful apathy.
No better example is the totally disingenuous furor created over the Dobbs decision, the reversal of Roe, a long overdue correction of what Justice Alito wisely termed “an egregious mistake."
It is inconceivable that a mere 20 years ago, the savage attacks on SCOTUS would have been tolerated. Sadly now, they are not only accepted but encouraged. Such disrespectful conduct is rooted in a lack of knowledge regarding the function and power of the Court. Largely the result poorly taught social sciences in the schools, such ignorance is fueled by the MSM, operating with a clear and unmistakable liberal bias.
To think that the attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh - a member of SCOTUS - did not draw loud and immediate condemnation from the highest official in the land, is nothing but short of repulsive. But such is the water in which we must swim. It is not the Court that is the problem, but the foul dust blowing in from the other branches.
Radical legislative proposals, aided and abetted by the White House, designed to “pack the Court “- arbitrarily raising the number of Justices to 13 from the existing nine with the extra four being appointed by Blind Eye Joe - do insult and damage to the independence of the third Branch. Such “sour grapes” schemes are but a reaction to recent SCOTUS decisions, equally unwelcome and misunderstood.
Again, we harken back to the deadly daily double of apathy and corruption. It was not always the case that the Court was treated with such disrespect, but nevertheless, it is now a given aspect of public life. A SCOTUS without the respect of the people cannot function, as while they can enter orders, others must enforce. The power of the Court lies in the finality of its decisions. Its function requires, indeed demands public respect.
News flash of the day. SCOTUS did not outlaw abortion in the United States. Despite the hysterics, despite the overreactions, this is the reality. The Court merely applied logic and legal reasoning to the Roe case, and correctly determined it was now time to demolish the house built on sand. Applying the precedent of post Roe, post Casey, the 1997 decision - Washington vs. Glucksberg (you can look it up), the Court concluded that since abortion was neither enumerated in the Constitution, nor deeply rooted in the nation’s history and tradition, Roe was in error.
The decision by Justice Alito is scholarly, well documented and on solid grounds. The Justice Department's partisan attack on various state provisions restricting abortion is without merit and is but more evidence of the Biden payoff to the radicals that made him President. Furthermore, no one “lied “about Roe in confirmation hearings. Each nominee said that Roe would be given its proper deference, which does not mean blind, absolute allegiance.
It was the time for Roe to go. In taking this step, SCOTUS has reclaimed its legitimacy as the final arbitrator of social issues, despite the howling mobs outside their Court, and indeed their homes. Such conduct was shamefully supported by the Biden White House, to its everlasting disgrace. The Obergefell decision on same sex marriage was thought by many to be morally corrupt, but no violence. Whether you believe abortion to be murder or a woman’s unilateral right, it now is the province of the States. This holdover squatter on the Constitution has finally been evicted.
A draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked by parties still remarkably unknown. It was an obvious attempt to intimidate the Justices into a compromised position. It failed.
SCOTUS has a long history of courage under fire, perhaps no better illustrated than West Virginia vs. Barnette, a case during World War II that upheld the rights of Jehovah’s Witnesses to decline to salute the flag. Justice Robert Jackson heroically wrote that the decisions of the Court must be “beyond the reach of majorities and officials.”
The Dobbs decision in overturning Roe held faith with this tradition. We now have some hope for the future. Be not afraid.