Alito on Abortions
I have no confidence whatsoever that Roberts or Alito would vote to overturn Roe any time soon. A conservative, originalist, justice is mindful of precedent and the effects of rulings, and are not quick to overturn rulings even if they are, to their mind, terrible and wrong.
I hope Alito and Roberts will eventually help to reverse Roe. It's a terrible decision on its own, and abortion is a terrible tragedy that should be, in the general case, illegal. But slavery was a terrible tragedy too, and Abraham Lincoln didn't push for its abolition, until the main obstacles to doing so -- disunion and the Constitution -- were no longer issues, as the war had begun so disunion was moot, and it also gave him a backdoor to the Emancipation Proclamation: defense of the union.
(By the way, Abraham Lincoln used the same argument in justifying the Emancipation Proclamation that Bush is using with the wiretapping: that it is necessary for the defense of the union, and therefore falls under his executive authority. Not too many people complain about what Lincoln did, though.)
But back to the point: you don't risk great turmoil by overturning longstanding precedent. If Alito or Roberts rules against Roe, I imagine it will only be because they are in the minority and know they can get away with it. I doubt either would cast the deciding vote striking down Roe any time soon, not until the country is ready for it.
I hope Alito and Roberts will eventually help to reverse Roe. It's a terrible decision on its own, and abortion is a terrible tragedy that should be, in the general case, illegal. But slavery was a terrible tragedy too, and Abraham Lincoln didn't push for its abolition, until the main obstacles to doing so -- disunion and the Constitution -- were no longer issues, as the war had begun so disunion was moot, and it also gave him a backdoor to the Emancipation Proclamation: defense of the union.
(By the way, Abraham Lincoln used the same argument in justifying the Emancipation Proclamation that Bush is using with the wiretapping: that it is necessary for the defense of the union, and therefore falls under his executive authority. Not too many people complain about what Lincoln did, though.)
But back to the point: you don't risk great turmoil by overturning longstanding precedent. If Alito or Roberts rules against Roe, I imagine it will only be because they are in the minority and know they can get away with it. I doubt either would cast the deciding vote striking down Roe any time soon, not until the country is ready for it.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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