Richard Reinsch on the leaked Dobbs opinion draft

Abortion v. the Constitution

We at PoMoCon are ready to speak up about the most urgent political fight in America, over abortion. Carl has already brought out the most high-minded constitutional & moral arguments (Prof. Hadley Arkes), which turn to natural law, as well as explanations of the political & religious issues for ordinary citizens. I add to his worthwhile work the analysis of my friend Richard Reinsch. Richard is part of the revamping of the Heritage foundation, in order to deal with the changes in conservative politics since 2016; indeed, many conservative institutions are now undergoing changes the better to accord with our more populist & more contentious politics. Richard is, as part of his work, a columnist for the Daily Signal, bringing scholarly & intellectual concerns to the broad American audience; in this capacity, he has written a very good introduction & summary of the leaked opinion which has been authenticated as a draft written by Justice Alito.

Richard shows that there are many important things at stake—read his thoughtful piece, it deserves your attention. I’ll introduce it with only three comments: First, the Supreme Court can now admit publicly that the legal reasoning in Roe was at the level of caricature &, in Casey, parody—no serious jurisprudence can be built on such foundations; next, the Court can also set the record straight on the history of the opposition to abortion in America, in common law as well as through statute, at the state & federal levels both, & thus restore the overwhelming consensus overturned by arrogant liberals, if the American people will wish it; finally, the connection between conservatism, the Constitution, & democracy will be restored if conservatives fight this fight well all the way to victory & begin to reclaim the dignity of the American family.

Finally, I caution my readers, who are undoubtedly well read & intelligent: If you consider the various arguments which have been & which will be made anew for the sake of resolving the coming political conflict between liberals & conservatives, you will notice agreement between the two sides to keep silent about certain very important moral arguments. The silence is, I think, crucial to understanding why we have failed to deal with the problem.