AP "Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion"
Alito, in the final opinion issued Friday, wrote that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong had to be be overturned.
“We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote, in an opinion that was very similar to the leaked draft.
AMENDMENT IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The Ninth Amendment was James Madison’s attempt to ensure that the Bill of Rights was not seen as granting to the people of the United States only the specific rights it addressed. In recent years, some have interpreted it as affirming the existence of such “unenumerated” rights outside those expressly protected by the Bill of Rights.
Doesn’t the Ninth Amendment contradict Justices Alito's argument “We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.” The IX Amendment says that the rights listed in the Constitution are not fixed but can be expanded overtime.
This ruling will go down in history equal to the Dred Scott Decision.
To answer your question, Alito's comment is correct as far at it goes. The Constitution doesn't confer a right to an abortion but it doesn't preclude it either. So the question really is whether the SCOTUS could have granted that right. The current court apparently believes they cannot but I don't think they addressed the question in that way. Given that the court previously held the there was a right for some 50 years, this court can only be viewed as the epitome of hypocrisy as they and most of the right have decried "activist" judges.
ReplyDeleteI would take the IX amendment to mean that the country could pass a Federal law that would legalize abortion across the country and the SCOTUS should not overturn it. While I don't see this happening soon, it would further expose the blatant power grab that is currently going on by the right.
Leann
However nowhere in the Ninth Amendment does it say that it has to be enumerated.
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