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Beyond Abortion: What’s at Stake With a Right-Wing Court
Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the highest court could spell bad news for LGBTQ equality, voting rights, and health care
Somehow, with the election less than a month away and Capitol Hill still reeling from a recent Covid-19 outbreak, Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s first Supreme Court confirmation hearings are set to begin today. Assuming the Senate votes to confirm Barrett — a woman who’s been described as an ideological heir to Justice Antonin Scalia — conservatives will take a 6–3 majority on the Supreme Court, giving the U.S. its most right-wing Court since 1950.
A conservative Supreme Court could rewrite the law around a number of issues, including reproductive rights, voting rights, health care, and law enforcement immunity. Below is a snapshot of what’s at stake with Barrett’s nomination.
Reproductive rights
Conservatives’ biggest goal has long been to overturn Roe v. Wade. Even if Roe itself isn’t overturned, a 6–3 court would likely vote to let stand any abortion restrictions that come under its consideration, including bans on abortion after 12 weeks or that involve the use of certain procedures. At present, more than 15 cases related to reproductive rights are moving between the lower courts; they include issues such as the requirement that fetal tissue be buried and that an abortion-seeking minor obtain parental consent. Taken together, these issues would chip away at a woman’s reproductive rights, even if not explicitly overturning Roe. Just read what Barrett herself said in 2016: “I don’t think the core case — Roe’s core holding that, you know, women have a right to an abortion — I don’t think that would change,” Barrett said. “But I think the question of whether people can get very late-term abortions, you know, how many restrictions can be put on clinics — I think that would change.”
Health care
Oral arguments for California v. Texas, the case challenging the Affordable Care Act, are scheduled for November 10. Texas centers on the 2017 amendment to the ACA that essentially repealed the law’s individual mandate requiring that Americans either pay for health insurance or pay a penalty tax…
