We are Going to Need a Bigger Table
There is a principle in the law called stare decisis, a Latin phrase literally meaning “to stand by things decided.” In the legal field, we use this term as a shorthand for generally building on previous legal decisions, rather than recklessly striking them down once a new majority takes power. This is not only applicable in the court, but also an important principle of Congressional action. The makeup of the legislative branch changes every two years. Imagine if our laws swung wildly from one side of the ideological spectrum to the other. Not to mention the millions of jobs and wages that rely on government jobs and assistance. It would be utter chaos and markets, companies, and society do not operate well in chaos. Justice Thomas kindly posted gave the country a warning of his desire for future chaos.
After the Court disregarded credible reliance interests and dismantled the very idea of substantive due process rights, Justice Thomas felt the need to go further and remind the Court what this decision really meant. He wrote with abortion protections returned to the states, the Court should also “reconsider all of [their] substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” For those not legally-inclined, these three cases enshrine the right to contraception, banning criminalization of same-sex intimacy, and the right to gay-marriage, respectively. It is cynically notable that in every other piece of the opinion Loving v. Virginia, the case overturning bans on interracial marriage, was not included in the Thomas concurrence despite it being another major example of substantial due process. Maybe he had a change of heart after realizing his vote might affect him.
This was not the first signal, but merely the most systematically impactful so far. In 2024, the public has also begun to understand the consequences of “Project 2025,” a nearly 1000-page document that has since been adopted by the Trump Campaign as its future blueprint in a second term. It includes a massive expansion in executive power, including deporting over 15 million undocumented immigrants from the country, ending all climate change funding and expanding coal and gas production (currently at an all time high under the Biden Administration), and banning birth-control and pornography from the internet. While the last example is less salient, it is worth noting conservative’s definition of what “pornography” consists of is quite loose. This is not just a fundamental attack on freedom of expression and more generally the freedom to live from government micromanaging. This is an attack on progress itself. Just take the four Supreme Court cases mentioned above, which all in the conservative movement now consider worth overturning. Griswold was decided in 1965, Loving in 1967. Lawrence in 2003, and Obergefell in 2015. In other words, years after society decided these issues and moved on. And for the record, the Court decided a case overturning the banning of pornography on the internet in 1997. Given these plans, statements, and current state action such as recently requiring all public schools in Louisiana to display the 10 Commandments (Supreme Court decided this was not ok in 2005), we need to start understanding just what is happening here.
Once again, everything is on the table. Stare decisis, respect for progress, public opinion, all of these no longer have any bearing on the current conservative movement. Almost without fail, every one of these decisions has been incredibly unpopular with the American people. A simple demonstration is the voting record since Dobbs. The pro-choice position is more popular than it has been in the last 25 years with more voters than ever before considering it their number one issue. Additionally, in every single state, including Kansas, Montana, Ohio, and Kentucky, where there has been a vote on this issue, the pro-choice position has triumphed. But this does not seem to matter to the extremist conservative movement. Which brings us to the horrifying conclusion that every single thing is back on the table. Every right, every law, every social norm, every honorable agreement handed down through society, it is all up for questioning again.
There may be some out there who agree with this. Even some of our founding fathers considered it to be a reasonable option to overthrow the current government every 50 years. But while there may be some pieces of our society which should be reexamined in an astute and controlled manner, the principles which founded them should not. Sometimes it is good for a society to stand firm on principles and state “this shall not be questioned.” Liberty, equality, and those things that we as a society have fought and died to change. Women’s rights were a long slog of protests, arrests, outbursts, and sometimes death. But we decided that equality was the right thing to do. Now it is being thrown back into the right for debate because a few seats changed on the Supreme Court? We need to accept the terrible truth that this is a time to fight not for what is most obvious, but for all we hold close to our hearts. Because I believe a large majority of Americans hold similar beliefs, and the only real thing separating us is information. When this conservative abortion appears on stage and tells you to hate thy neighbor and care only for yourself, to shut your heart and take up the sword against all those who would question them, to fear the other, trust your instinct and fight back. This is not who we are as Americans, and it cannot be who we become.
#FitzFile
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