Former Washington AG: Supreme Court ‘deeply divided’ over upcoming abortion case
May 20, 2021, 9:56 AM | Updated: 10:55 am
The U.S. Supreme Court. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case regarding Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks. How will justices rule when it’s all said and done? Former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna provided some insight to KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross.
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The case is shaping up to be a potential landmark decision for a Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative advantage. If the court rules in favor of the Mississippi law, it would effectively overturn the long-held protections established in Roe v. Wade. If justices strike the Mississippi law down, it could affirm the Roe v. Wade precedent for generations to come.
What makes this case especially strange, though, was the fact that it took justices months to decide on whether or not the court would take it on.
“It takes four justices to hear a case out of the nine,” McKenna noted. “It’s interesting that they took a long time to decide whether to grant review in this case.”
As McKenna points out, the Supreme Court first began to review the case in January, opting against making a decision at the time. The court then considered it for review another 12 times after Jan. 8, before finally deciding this week to take up the case.
“That suggests a deeply divided court,” he posited.
The case also marks a change in strategy for the pro-life movement. In past years, opponents of abortion have sought to make it “increasingly harder for providers to even operate” at the state level, McKenna described.
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Now, the focus has turned toward testing the limits of Roe v. Wade.
“It’s pretty clear that opponents of abortion want to push the boundaries of the law, and change the law by enacting increasingly more restrictive regulations on abortion, moving beyond burdening one’s ability to exercise the right to obtain an abortion, and replacing those burdens without outright bans after certain points in time,” McKenna said.
The Supreme Court will hear the case in October of this year, and is expected to have a decision sometime next spring or summer.
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