General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate"There are Two Real Ways to Answer the Texas Abortion Law"
Neither is Easy
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/texas-abortion-law-what-to-do.html
Thinking about a nondecision that never came down via the so-called shadow docket in the middle of the night that allowed the second-largest state in the country to overturn a 50-year-old precedent without the Supreme Court writing a word is a bit like dancing between the raindrops. By doing nothing at all on Wednesday night, the Supreme Court largely evaded top-of-the-fold coverage or glaring headlines even asfor all intents and purposesabortions after six weeks simply stopped in Texas at midnight (and not coincidentally on the day Texas Republicans passed their effort to further minority rule at the ballot box).
Its easy to be angry at Journalism for failing to prioritize the story. Or at Democrats who control the House, the Senate and the White House for failing to do anything to protect womens right to choose in Texas. But the problem with covering a thing that didnt ever exactly happen is that Journalism is largely terrible at it, and the problem with being mad at Democrats is that quite literally the only thing that can be done about a stolen federal judiciary is to reform it. So far, Democrats are a combination of unable or unwilling when it comes to actually reforming the courts. (But dont worrytheres a Commission!) Supreme Court conservatives who know this have thus become terrifyingly adept at judging between the raindropsat deciding life-and-death matters by way of unreasoned orders in the dead of night, based almost entirely on their feelings. They have fully mastered the game of denial and deflection, dressed up as humility and institutionalism.
If you want to be pissed off at someone today, kindly be pissed off at Texas Republicans, who passed a law that evades judicial review by design, and at the judges and activists who delight in its unbearable cleverness. (These are the people who used to say they were just helping women make better decisions but now say women can make no decisions). Be pissed off at the stealing of the federal courts that took place in plain sight, which pissed off plenty of people, but not, apparently, enough people to stop it. Be pissed off at abortion opponents who insisted in public that their justices would never disturb Roe while smirking in private because they knew it would happen within months. And if you want to see someone do something about it, do the only thing that might make a difference and engage in an effort to rebalance the federal courts to be reflective of what voters prefer and the law demands.
snip
Texas has now made abortion impossible for 85 percent of the women in the statethese are real peopleand we all are on tenterhooks waiting to see whether and how the Roberts court allows it and justifies it. That isnt the way the legal system was designed to work at all. The problem with watching jurisprudence unfold as though its reality television is that the court does all its work during the commercials. There was nothing that could have been done to stop this particular case if a bunch of Trump judges saw no emergency. Theres no point in spending the day berating one another for failing to pay attention to the thing we didnt see because it was designed to occur unseen. The game is bigger than this, has always been bigger, because the game is about power, as it has always been. Which means that the only things to do now are work to protect the vote and fix the courtsthe boring tedious work that also happens outside the spotlight and beneath the fold. If the systemic machinery of justice isnt immediately repaired, what happens in the shadows is going to keep catching us off guard, late at night, while we struggle to decide if Roe was overruled this week, or nullified, or merely paused for a few million people. Until the courts do their work in the open, according to the agreed-upon rules of the road, this slow erosion of the rule of law is always going to occur between the raindrops, and were going to feel surprised and powerless every single time.
mopinko
(70,025 posts)none of this happens if everyone got to vote.
2naSalit
(86,393 posts)bluestarone
(16,872 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)They have to be pressured and pressured and pressured until they break.
FalloutShelter
(11,837 posts)No justice, no peace. No rights, no nookie. Women across the country could enact this in solidarity with their sisters in Texas.
I am only half kidding.
d_r
(6,907 posts)who is the leader of the Texas "pro-life" group probably isn't going to follow your lead, nor will the mamas with quiverfull stickers on their minivan windows. Some people are just crazy.
This crazy lady -
Hugin
(33,063 posts)Moscow Mitch murdered it and Roberts stood by and watched.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,967 posts)leftieNanner
(15,070 posts)He knew that the law would be upheld by the five justices, so he could vote with the other three and pretend he's a moderate and reasonable fellow. It's all about making "his" court look sensible.
He still got what he wanted.
Hugin
(33,063 posts)The damage was done years ago.
I'm not giving him cover.
ancianita
(35,954 posts)Why else would he allow a shadow docket.
Glad to hear you see it too.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,967 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,272 posts)Nothing more explicit than that, as far as I can see.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,967 posts)anotherOKIE
(90 posts)I am pretty sure that there are enough women and liberals in Texas to have prevented this abortion and voting legislation from ever happening. But, either through gerrymandering and/or women just not supporting their own right to decide for themselves this happened. If women wanted to change life in Texas they could do so. I can only assume that, even with gerrymandering, women voted to put those legislators into office.
I can completely support a woman's right to choose. COMPLETELY! Some women care but I don't think all that many really do, despite polls that indicate otherwise. You get what you vote for. It's becoming like the old East Germany where neighbors snitch on each other and secretly work for the oppressive government.