Maybe it's a time warp. Apparently emboldened by their recent opening of a can of electoral whup ass, Georgia Republicans are ready to restrict abortions. All abortions. No exceptions.
Didn't South Dakota just go through this and the voters eventually rejected it? South freaking Dakota!
My god, the entire nation turned topsy turvy last tuesday and down here in Georgia we act like it was a passing breeze with no effect. Trust me boys, people are sick of extremism on both sides. Your day will come.
Idiocy. Sheer idiocy.
UPDATE: Via the email thing, Richard informs me that two similar bills were introduced last session and died in committee. Even though both houses were Republican control. So, this could just be more standard fare but its always good to be cautious and expose idiots where idiots live.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
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5 comments:
Thus proving Georgia politics is a full step behind the rest of the country.
Actually this could be a gigantic blessing to the Georgia democratic party wrapped up in a great big bow.
Sara - what do you think? There is no way the courts uphold this right?
I'm with Sara. This could be a blessing, as the vast majority of people do not want to restrict ALL abortions. I doubt the SD amendment would have passed in Georgia either.
The only reason Republicans pass unconstitutional shit is so that they can later blame it on the courts. Those damn activist judges are getting in the way of our agenda!
I'd like to believe that Roe v. Wade is well-established and often upheld precedent that at this point just couldn't be ignored or overturned. But honestly, with Roberts and Alito on the court now, I just don't know. I think an early test will be how they rule on the partial birth abortion ban. If Kennedy switches to the majority to uphold Carhart v. Stenberg (as many expect), then it's a good sign that the newly minted Roberts Court will not have the 5 votes needed to overturn Roe. But if they overturn Carhart or dramatically scale back its scope, it will be a dangerous sign for how they will deal with a case that puts squarely before them an invitation to determine that Roe was incorrectly decided and should be overturned. It's not unheard of, obviously--just look at Lawrence v. Texas overturning Bowers v. Hardwick.
The other problem is that conceivably it could go to the GA Supreme Ct. first (depending on where a lawsuit challenging it is filed), and in the event they upheld the new law they could do so in reliance on a GA constitutional provision. (I don't know what all is in your quirky oft-amended constitution but I'm wondering if there's something that potentially establishes some sort of fetal rights beyond those in the US Constitution.) A ruling by the GA Supreme Court on state-peculiar grounds could conceivably make it harder for the US Supreme Court to overturn, or possibly even hear, the case. (This is the idea of "independent and adequate state grounds" that make state supreme court cases unreviewable by the Supremes even if the case also presents federal issues.) I think that's unlikely because there would still be the federal constitutional issue of the mother's right to privacy, but who knows. The Roberts court conceivably could find a way to twist itself into enough constitutional knots to let a state decision outlawing abortion stand unchallenged. Remember Scalia and Thomas were trying to argue that the Supremes shouldn't even be hearing Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on abstention grounds, so they will try some crafty arguments to get the result they want.
Methinks it is time for me to start donating money and/or time to GA Planned Parenthood and associated organizations. Just in case.
Yep, Sara's right. Let 'em bring on their "I See Stupid People" legislation. It will only further the image of (Georgia) Republicans as idiot religious extremists, and turn more and more of 'em back to the center.
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