In law, the doctrine that the judge will consider on Wednesday is called a stare decision. It comes from the Latin “stareentiis et non silenta movere” which means roughly, to stand before things that have been decided and not to disturb the calm.
For some, the decision to gaze is important because it demonstrates the accumulated wisdom of the judges, maintains the stability of the law, and promotes the uniform and consistent development of principles. legal rules.
For others, like Justice Clarence Thomas, it is sometimes overrated, especially as he wrote in 2019, if it gives “a sign of respect” for what he calls “unequivocal precedents.”
Wednesday’s case will heat the debate as the court considers the federal appeals court’s decision to violate Mississippi law.
The United States’ 5th Circuit Court of Appeals – one of the most conservative in the country – overturned the Mississippi law, arguing that it was in stark contrast to Roe.
“In an unbroken line dating from Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s abortion cases established (and affirmed and reaffirmed) the right of women to choose to have an abortion prior to its ability to have an abortion. exam,” the court said.
Mississippi appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. After the judges agreed to take over the dispute, the state attorney general made a grand request: “This court should deal with Roe,” because the decision proved to be “hopefully unenforceable.” Okay.” Roe, and another case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, decided in 1992 “caused profound damage,” the state said.
“Subsequent interests do not favor their retention,” the state argued. “And nothing more than a complete break from those instances could have prevented the harm they’ve already caused.”
Abortion rights advocates, were quick to react, emphasizing from the outset how the country relied on Roe.
Julie Rikelman, an attorney representing the Jackson Women’s Health Foundation, said: “Two generations – spanning nearly five decades – have depended on the availability of legal abortion and the right to make decisions. This is increasingly confirmed to be very important for gender equality. summary.
And she took aim at the new conservative majority. She said that if the court suddenly dropped Roe, after about 50 years the new court would turn its back on its institutional legitimacy.
But O. Carter Snead, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, believes the courts will fix the institutional legitimacy by disposing of Roe. “The Court’s abortion legislation is completely unbound from the text, history, and traditions of the Constitution,” he said in a pro-Mississippi amicus brief. “It has imposed an extreme, incoherent, unenforceable and anti-democratic legal regime on abortion across the country for several decades.”
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