Justice Kavanaugh’s Empty Democratic Promise
Returning abortion to the states doesn’t put power into the hands of voters in much of the country.
“The Constitution is neither pro-choice nor pro-life.” So said Justice Brett Kavanaugh, not once, not twice, but three times during last week’s oral argument in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It’s the judicial equivalent of a poll-tested line, an attempt to message the overturning of Roe v. Wade as fundamentally pro-democratic, something for voters to decide. A woman’s right to end a pregnancy “should be left to the people, to the states, or to Congress,” Kavanaugh argued.
Kavanaugh’s talking points reflect a political reality: Americans like the idea of self-government. When asked, believe that their elected officials should represent the majority’s views. By claiming to be democratic position to take.
