Biden says restoring abortion rights is up to voters

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new majority boldly signaled with twin rulings this week that public opinion would not interfere with conservative plans to shift the nation’s legal landscape.

The court rejected Roe v. Wade, a 49-year-old legal precedent that guaranteed the right to an abortion, after a string of national polls showed a clear majority of Americans wanted the opposite result. A similar court majority invalidated a 108-year-old New York state law restricting who can carry concealed guns that is supported by nearly 8 in 10 New Yorkers, according to a recent poll by Siena College.

Rather than ignore the dissonance, Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority in the abortion decision, attacked the notion that the court should consider the public will. He quoted the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist from a previous ruling: “The Judicial Branch derives its legitimacy, not from following public opinion, but from deciding by its best lights.”

As people got off work, a crowd of protesters at Legislative Plaza in Nashville grew despite the stifling heat.

In an organized protest by abortion rights advocates, some women handed out bottled water and sports drinks to keep people holding signs from getting dehydrated.

“We deserve the same rights as our mamas had,” one protester’s sign read. Another depicted a crude drawing of a coat hanger and read, “Banning abortion doesn’t make it go way. It just makes it dangerous.” Other placards questioned if other rights are also now in jeopardy, with one sign stating, “Is my marriage next?”

“The decision was awful,” said a tearful Paula Foster, 58. “I’m legally married, and to a wonderful woman. I’m afraid that I will no longer be able to have that protection.”

Foster, a social worker and executive director of a local nonprofit, has two girls, ages 11 and 13.

“I’m frightened for them and the world they’re going to grow up in,” she said.

At 5:45 p.m., the crowd rallied and began marching down Deadrick Avenue to City Hall and the courthouse, chanting, “Pro-life is a lie. They don’t care if people die!”

Once at the courthouse, they found T-shirts waiting for them with the phrase “Bans off our bodies.”

As many Americans mourn the loss of Roe v. Wade, members of the LGBTQ community are concerned that the right to same-sex marriage could also be on the chopping block.

The anxiety grew from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion, which stated the court should “reconsider” other rights that include access to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

Thomas’s opinion, which was not shared by the majority, sent chills down the spines of same-sex-attracted Americans who cannot count a full decade of having the right to marry the person they want.

The concerns are valid, legal scholars told The Washington Post, but not in the immediate or mid-term future.

Michael Boucai, a professor at the University at Buffalo’s School of Law, stressed that Thomas was the only one who had expressed going after other targets where the court has already set precedence.

“There’s lots of implications in majority opinion and external to this case that make me hopeful that a majority of the current Supreme Court is not chomping at the bit to overturn same-sex marriage or right to [contraception] or the right to consensual sex in the privacy of one’s own home,” Boucai said.

Boucai, whose research focuses on constitutional law and sexuality and law, noted that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has a history of not being eager to overturn precedence.

“I don’t think you have votes for worst-case scenarios,” he said. “Not to say that if you elect the wrong people, you’re not going to get that result down the line.”

Concerns about same-sex marriage are somewhere in the middle of panic and far-fetched, according to Alan B. Morrison, associate dean for public interest and public service at the George Washington University Law School.

There would have to be a significant groundswell at the state level to overturn same-sex marriage and vicious district attorneys willing to take the cases up to the courts, he said.

“My view is that the equal protection is very strong and that it is likely to prevail,” he said. “I’m not at all sure that states are going to want to go back into court about something that’s been law of land.”

Morrison pointed out that even when Roe v. Wade became law, opponents of it remained active for years. The same momentum to ban same-sex marriage hasn’t appeared to reach a similar level, he said.

On Friday, former president Donald Trump issued a statement celebrating the end of Roe and taking credit for naming to the Supreme Court the justices that led to its overturn.

But he was noticeably more publicly muted about the issue than a range of other Republicans who are seeking the presidency in 2024. Some Republicans were faster to call for the laws to go even further. A raft of his contemporaries issued statements more quickly and at far greater length than Trump.

Trump has complained privately that the overturning of Roe could hurt Republicans politically in independent and suburban districts, two advisers said, and has told allies they should emphasize that states can set their own laws. Trump also told some of his advisers he thinks a better position would be to limit but not ban abortion, two of these people said, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal discussions.

“He is convinced it won’t help him in the future,” one adviser said of Roe being overturned, and would prefer the 2022 midterms and 2024 presidential election be primarily about other topics, such as inflation, immigration and Biden’s messy pullout in Afghanistan, four people who have spoken with him said.

Read more about Trump’s thinking here.

Marches and rallies erupted across the nation after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday — some protesting the decision, others celebrating it.

Abortion rights advocates gathered at courthouses and community plazas — including in states such Texas, one of 13 with a “trigger ban” in place that will prohibit abortion within 30 days.

In Jackson, Miss., the clinic at the center of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that was decided on Friday saw clinic escorts arguing with antiabortion advocates.

At protests across the country, demonstrators came out with signs showcasing various slogans: “My body, my choice,” “Bans off our bodies” and “You can only ban safe abortions.”

In the weeks since a draft opinion was leaked in early May, tension has grown between abortion providers, abortion rights groups and antiabortion advocates. The Friday decision repealed the constitutional right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years ago.

MADISON, Wis. — Hundreds of abortion rights advocates gathered before the Wisconsin Capitol Friday after the Supreme Court ruling.

The demonstrators hung coat hangers on the railing of the steps, alluding to the danger of illicit procedures, and blamed not just Republicans but Democrats for the fall of Roe. There are no clinics providing abortions in Wisconsin.

Several speakers and protesters said they see their fight as part of a larger battle for the rights of everyone who is not a White man.

“Abortion is a fundamental human right and we’re not alone,” said Julia Tanenbaum, an activist. “There’s a long and complicated history of the White Christian Evangelical right using social and economic issues to divide us and deprive us of our fundamental rights.

“None of us will be free until all of us are free,” she added.

Jamie Feyrer of Madison said she knew the decision was coming but still found it hard.

“Unsurprised at this point but angry and sad,” she said. “This country has gone toward wanting more and more control of women’s bodies and we have a Supreme Court that is determined to make that happen. I have a daughter whose future I’m worried about.”

Fringe groups on the far right and left issued calls to take up arms on Friday in a sign of escalating tension over the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion ruling.

“DEFEND YOUR CHURCHES TONIGHT,” cried far-right activist Nicholas Fuentes on his personal channel on the messaging app Telegram, where he has more than 44,000 followers.

With people across the country taking to the streets to protest and support the decision, officials warned that the U.S. could face a wave of violence from extremists. In many posts, Fuentes and other far-right influencers referenced a memo published Friday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warning that churches, judges, and abortion providers could be at a heightened risk of violence “for weeks” in response to both the ruling and expected changes in state laws and ballot measures stemming from the decision.

At around 7:25 p.m., about two dozen demonstrators banged drums and chanted protestations at the entrance to Justice Clarence Thomas’s Fairfax Station neighborhood. Protesters made no attempt to enter the private road as a pair of Fairfax County police cruisers sat on post.

Most carried signs that called justices “liars,” “Abortion is health care” and “What Other Rights Will they Take Away?” The group shouted phrases in unison including “My body, my choice” and “Our rights, are not up for debate!”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, which has in recent months increased the number of deputies assigned to safeguard the justices, said in a statement: “In light of the increased security concerns stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V. Wade, the U.S. Marshals Service continues to assist the Marshal of the Supreme Court with the responsibility of protecting the United State Supreme Court and its facilities. While we do not comment on specific security measures, we continuously review the security measures in place and take appropriate steps to provide additional protection when it is warranted.”