Samuel Alito and the Dobbs Majority
Samuel Alito F1, Brett Kavanaugh B1, Clarence Thomas F2, Neil Gorsuch B3, Amy Barrett B4
First, to the less familiar reader, this is an annual blog tradition. I maintain the name as a protest against political correctness, in the traditional, gender-free context of 'man'. I refuse to appease petty feminist ideologues trying to control speech; I grew up with 4 little sisters and 2 little brothers, and we all got treated equally growing up. I was part of the "in group" of Catholic Newman at UH. There are a couple of relevant incidents I've mentioned in the blog. The first involved lectors for the two readings before the gospel at Mass. Those were normally split between male and female students. One of the readers no-showed (the lady) and a coordinator reached out to me to substitute just before Mass. All hell broke loose after Mass ended. My coed friends saw me as part of some male chauvinist conspiracy; I thought I was doing a favor. The second thing was when I opened a missal and found, in the traditional Nicene creed, "for us men and our salvation" with "men" scratched out in ink--and not just my missal but all the others. It was pathetic, presumptuous and petty. We were all raised in a faith that celebrated female saints. Arguing the translation of the Nicene creed was sexist and exclusionary was patently absurd. I have included women in my selections, including Justice Amy Barrett here, Ms. LePen in 2015, and a female central banker., not to mention in a group of independent voters.
Second, I did consider other candidates including but not restricted to Musk for his epic takeover of Twitter, Biden somehow evading a conventional midterm rebuke in the Senate despite poor approval numbers, Zelensky staving off a huge Russian invasion, and transition in the UK in the monarchy and the PM leadership.
It's hard to overstate the impact of the Dobbs' decision. which basically overturned the Row and Casey precedents, sharply restricting state regulation of abortion over the first 2 trimesters of pregnancy., minimally until the preborn child is viable outside her womb. In the nearly 50-year tenure of Roe, over 2 generations of women were born, all but guaranteed unfettered access to abortion services for any or no reason. There was this sense of a vested recognized legal right woven into our culture. Let's point out that a number of legal scholars had issues with the original reasoning behind the Roe decision, even pro-abort late Justice RBG. Many SCOTUS nominations later, the status of the Roe precedent continued to be a top priority for feminists and socially liberal politicians. As the court grew more conservative, the states gained measured regulatory authority. With Chief Justice Roberts more moderate on divisive cases, it seemed unlikely there would be a majority necessary to reverse precedent--unril RBG died, leaving Trump with a nomination he used to name another conservative, Amy Barrett. The Dobbs case gave Sam Alito the opportunity needed to revisit the abortion precedents. Alito pointed out that abortion is not an enumerated general government responsibility but fell under state responsibilities of police power and health regulation, that abortion had been regulated under common law or statutory authority by the early twentieth century. The federal overwrite of state authority wasn't constitutional, and the precedents were overturned. (Not the first time the court has done precedents.) States resumed their traditional regulatory authority.
The decision was originally leaked several weeks prematurely, creating an immediate firestorm. Pro-aborts targeted homes of justices for protests, and apparently Justice Kavanaugh was the target for a reported murder plot. We heard horror stories of "forced pregnancies" for 10-year-old rape victims. The Dems reversed the GOP's lead in mid-term polls, it became a key mid-term issue for Democrats, a key issue in special elections, and the subject of nearly half a dozen state initiatives. I haven't seen hard data, but it could have been a deciding factor in GOP Senate races costing them control of the Senate.
As a pro-lifer, I have mixed feelings. While my Church has opposed abortion for over 2000 years, my opposition to abortion came from the fact human life begins at conception. I was the first-born in a large family. I was young when Roe was decided. I knew, before Roe, abortion was already liberalized in states like California, and multiple blue states had "Roe-proofed" their laws if abortion regulation reverted to states. I knew the left would argue for popular exceptions for rape and incest. . Pro-lifers would get stereotyped; none of us favor punishing a woman who has lost her child. Short of a police state, we still have to rely on persuasion, not force.
Whatever your personal view of abortion, the Dobbs decision was consequential and hence subject of my choice for Man of the Year.
