Two Weeks to Dobbs
Andrew Hyman
This is a reminder that a hugely significant case regarding the Fourteenth Amendment and abortion will be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on December 1. The case is, of course, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
As usual, SCOTUSblog has the briefs, some of which have a strong originalist orientation. Over at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, Professor Orin Kerr discusses why “there hasn't been much writing about Dobbs” in academic/blogging circles. He observes that people have already been writing about this subject for decades, so “It's not clear that there's anything new to say.” But he adds that this is an incredibly important case, and one to closely watch.
As usual, SCOTUSblog has the briefs, some of which have a strong originalist orientation. Over at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, Professor Orin Kerr discusses why “there hasn't been much writing about Dobbs” in academic/blogging circles. He observes that people have already been writing about this subject for decades, so “It's not clear that there's anything new to say.” But he adds that this is an incredibly important case, and one to closely watch.
Besides what Professor Kerr mentioned, the great magnitude of this case may also leave many people disinclined to write about it because of being overawed, or perhaps waiting for the oral arguments to see what might be said at that point; another possible factor is the learned helplessness that has come with the Supreme Court having long ago removed this issue from the democratic process. In any event, I wrote a blog post about this case before cert was granted. Can’t think of anything to add onto that, right now.
Incidentally, I just got the new book by Professors Randy Barnett and Evan Bernick in the mail from Amazon: The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. If you really want to study this book carefully, you might need both the book to scribble in, plus the Kindle version for searching the whole book (including footnotes). My initial impression is that we should probably try to seek greater consensus about what the Civil Rights Act of 1866 means before we can expect to get broader agreement about what the 14th Amendment means.
In other news, Professor Kurt Lash has proposed a constitutional amendment regarding parents’ rights.
MICHAEL RAMSEY adds: Also at Volokh Conspiracy, Josh Blackman and Stephen Sachs discuss the significance of Dobbs for the originalist movement:
Josh Blackman: A Message From A Current 3L and FedSoc Officer About Dobbs - This message is representative of what I've been hearing.
Stephen Sachs: Originalism and the Result in Dobbs - Would the outcome in Dobbs put originalism in doubt?
Josh Blackman: Originalism, Inc. - There is a big difference between "Originalism Inc." and unincorporated originalists.