Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Thursday, June 28th, 2018

What Justice Kennedy’s Supreme Court Retirement Means for Abortion Rights

Author:     Lisa Ryan
Source:     The Cut
Publication Date:     JUNE 27, 2018 5:08 PM
 Link: What Justice Kennedy’s Supreme Court Retirement Means for Abortion Rights
Stephan:   With the retirement of Anthony Kennedy from the Supreme Court the ability of a woman to control her own body hangs by a thread. We are poised to go back nearly half a century to a time when women were viewed by some as chattel. And that's just for starters, the future of unions, freedom of the press, and a host of other issues also stand at the cliff edge. In my own view it will take millions of people demonstrating all over America, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions filling the mall in Washington, D.C. And it will require every non-Trumplican voter to get out and vote Democratic. No third party votes, no stay at home, "they're all the same" whiners not voting. Can Americans do that? What do you think? What are you willing to do?

Pro-choice demonstrators in front of the Supreme Court

Justice Anthony Kennedy announced on Wednesday that he will be retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of July. His retirement poses a dangerous threat to reproductive rights, as President Donald Trump has vowed to fill his vacant spot with a judge who will work to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion in the country.

“The stakes are incredibly high,” Julie Rikelman, senior director of U.S. litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights told the Cut. “Kennedy had been the decisive vote in several cases preserving the rights to abortion, and as a result his retirement means the court could shift against the constitutional right to abortion and access to abortion.”

So, what happens next? And what does this mean for reproductive rights? Here, we break it down for you.

Several Pending Cases Could Raise the Question of Abortion in the Supreme Court

In the 1980s, former president Ronald […]

Read the Full Article