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Prohibition

Should the Supreme Court Legislate?

June 1, 2022
by Peter Feinman
The Building Where It Happens (Joe Ravi)

The United States famously has a tripartite system of government. We have three branches of the government: legislature, executive, and judicial. Naturally there are going to be areas of overlap and issues about not overstepping one’s domain and intruding into the realm of another branch. That being said, it is the legislative actions of the Supreme Court that frequently are the most disruptive. Such transgressions are magnified when they touch upon the lives of individual Americans.

There have been three major intrusions into the lives of individual Americans in the 20th century which I wish to address. Two are due to the Supreme Court and one by We the People ourselves. In these examples, we are not dealing with the war in Ukraine, tariffs, or even wages. Instead, the focus is on when daily life is disrupted as result of government action. In all three examples, the intrusion backfired and the law of unexpected consequences kicked in. In one case, we resolved the intrusion and moved on. In the other two cases, the disruptions are unresolved and continue to wreak havoc with the social fabric.

PROHIBITION 

The amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the consumption (sale) of alcohol was a longtime coming. For decades people including female evangelical (Methodists) who could not even vote advocated on behalf of prohibition. The action was both at the state level and the national. Elections could be won or lost based on the candidate’s position on the prohibition of alcohol.

State by state, the prohibition forces prevailed until at last the magic number required for ratification was reached. Then at last and to the great joy and satisfaction of the proponents, prohibition became the law of the land.

Prohibition was a different type of amendment. It was not one asserting a right as so many in the Bill of Rights do. It was not some procedural issue regarding elections. In a sense one could say its precedent was the prohibition against slavery, but even that was a legal condition which could be countered by Jim Crow. Prohibition, as befitting its religious origin was more like the apodictic commandments from Sinai: THOU SHALT NOT DRINK ALCOHOL!

This secular commandment reached right into the homes of every American. It touched the lives of people as individuals. And, of course, it did not work. It did not banish alcoholic consumption from American life. Quite the contrary, it forced it underground. From the stills in the backwoods of the rural South to the speakeasies of the urban North, alcohol did not disappear. One result was the growth of organized crime, aka the Mafia, certainly an unintended consequence.

The failings of the prohibition were readily apparent. The result was a reaction against it with a new amendment that was ratified at warp speed. One lesson to be learned was to be very careful when you muck around with the daily lives of individual Americans. It was a lesson not learned.

SCHOOL BUSING

The Supreme Court failed to heed that lesson. The Supreme Court ruling prohibiting separate-but-equal as a guiding principle for schools continues to affect Americans to this very day. On the one hand, the Court made a judicial ruling about a particular doctrine as being unconstitutional. On the other hand, the Court then mandated a remedy to the situation which actually was a form of legislation. The legislative solution was arrived at without public participation. It did not follow the normal political discourse which would have occurred if the Court had turned to Congress with instructions to write a law reflecting the principles of the judicial decision. Instead it decreed a solution. Are we today where the Court wanted us to be when it legislated the solution nearly 70 years ago?

Obviously not.  There are many powerful and moving stories to tell about the positive impact of desegregation. Remember the Titans. There also have been many unintended consequences of the decision to exploit the most vulnerable people in society, children, to achieve some social objection (The Law of Unintended Consequences: From Abortion to Voter Suppression). Suffice it to say that this attempt at social engineering failed just as Prohibition had only three decades earlier. The United States still pays a price for the dislocations and unraveling of the social fabric wrought but this high-minded and poorly thought out intrusion into the homes of Americans.

The decision also changed the position of the Supreme Court in American society. With prohibition, We the People had inflicted the change on ourselves. Therefore We the People were able to remedy the problem ourselves. With school busing, the decision had been made a group of nine people acting in secret and beyond the direct reach of We the People. Now these unelected people could tell us what we could and could not do right in our own immediate lives. Think of all the ways (white) people since developed to negate the ruling (The Law of Unintended Consequences: From Abortion to Voter Suppression). So much effort, energy, and money that was not used to create quality schools in every community.

The current political controversies on CRT and 1619 follow a longstanding fight on the control of local schools from the teaching or not teaching of evolution to how we teach the Civil War of Northern Aggression. The farther removed from our direct political control the decision makers are, the greater the danger of enraging the individuals effected … and the greater the likelihood of unintended consequences when decisions are not openly arrived at by elected representatives. The Supreme Court battles over national legislation in the 1930s now had become localized. With school busing, you did not need someone to explain to you how you would be effected, you could see with your own eyes.

Think of how different America would be today, if the Supreme Court had legislated that every community had the right to quality schools instead of forcing busing. The Court effectively red-lined school districts. There were areas of substandard housing, substandard schools, inadequate parks, inadequate public pools, inadequate libraries, and on it goes. Think of how teachers and principals in the red-lined districts had their careers short-circuited because they now could be overlooked in the new racist configuration. Think of the local role models for the young which were lost. But the Court knew best and it wreaked havoc with America instead.

ABORTION

With abortion, once again the Supreme Court decided to make it personal. Again, the Court made a decision on a legal principle, this time the previously unknown right to privacy. It then took it upon itself to legislate how that right was to be implemented. Again it did it all by itself without any public discussion. Again it mandated the implementation.

Even if you accept the idea that there is a constitutional right to abortion, it does not automatically follow that the trimester time frame is the one and only way to legislate the application of a solution. When the Supreme Court selected one particular method to implement its decision, it overstepped its bounds. While the Supreme Court may have monopoly power on deciding judicial principles, it has no legislative power to implement such decisions unless there is one and only one way to do so. If multiple options are possible, then the legislative authority defers to Congress. The issue here is not whether or not the Supreme Court is correct about the Constitutionality of the right to abortion, but whether or not it has the right to legislate a solution. The Court can rule on individual cases involving freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the right to assemble; it has no right to write the legislation defining those freedoms. That is for Congress to do.

Right now we are experiencing a case study in the shortcomings of secret decisions secretly arrived at. Look at the reaction to the leaked Alito draft. The responses to it demonstrate the kind of political discussion which can occur when matters are publicly deliberated. Will people be tried for murder? Will people be tried as accessories to murder? Will pregnant women at airports be tracked for their pregnancy when they return? What other presumed rights will be affected? No one knows.

Do you think the Supreme Court discussed/debated the concerns which have been raised in the public arena since the Alito draft was leaked? Doubtful? Now the Supreme Court Judges whether they wanted it or not have had the opportunity to hear the debate on its proposed abortion ruling that it otherwise would have missed. The remaining question is what, if any effect, will it have on them.

Abortion Armageddon: The Post-Alito Apocalypse

May 8, 2022
by Peter Feinman

Even before the Supreme Court has issued its verdict on the most recent abortion case, its leaked draft already is “Krakatoa, East of Java.” The draft has had an immediate impact in disrupting the political arena as well as the life of untold millions. We are just in the beginning stages of the latest abortion irruption so it still remains to be seen how the decision will unfold. In the meantime, what if anything can be known or suggested about what is to come?

SUPREME COURT FREEDOM OF CHOICE

Speaking as a non-lawyer, my understanding of the choices facing the Supreme Court are/were:

1. Support abortion and claim the Constitution does too
2. Support abortion but claim the Constitution does not address it
3. Oppose abortion and claim the Constitution does not address it
4. Oppose abortion and claim the Constitution prohibits it.

Given these choices, the Supreme Courts have chosen two different options. The original decision by the Court was Option 1. As a result there has been a proclaimed constitutional right to abortion for the past 50 years.

The new Court decision based on the leaked opinion is that the original Court decision for Option 1 was in error and there was not and is not a constitutional right to abortion. Instead the Court has chosen Option 3. The result will be the issue is remanded to the states, all 50 of them, to decide on their own.

For some people, that decision is not enough. They want a nation-wide ban of abortion to be accomplished through federal legislation. Most likely this means that the people who opposed the federal mask mandates:

NO SOCIALISM
NO SLAVERY
NO FASCISM
NO TYRANNY
NO GAZPACHO

now will support an intrusion into the body of a woman that they would not accept on the face of a person. While the prospects of such a law are nil in the present Congress, who knows what the future will bring starting with the next House of Representatives.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

People have a habit of not thinking things through. They go for the immediate short-term gain without considering the consequences. To be fair, sometimes it is difficult if not impossible to recognize all the possible outcomes of a given decision. Science fiction abounds in alternate realities generated by the different possible scenarios derived from a single decision. One of the more common examples is when the magic genie appears to grant you three wishes. No matter how carefully you try, the wish always backfires.

Consider the two very recent examples by the two Trumpican presidential candidate wannabees. In Texas, the Governor has tried to make the border his path to greater political office. He would build a wall there with Texas taxpayer money. He would dispatch Texan military forces to patrol the border. Then he decided on his best stunt ever: he would establish a “blockade” on vehicles (trucks) entering Texas from Mexico.

His stunt immediately blew up in his face. He did not think the issue through. It was a sudden decision devoid of preparation. The results were exactly what anyone who thought about it would have predicted – LINES, LONG LINES, VERY LONG LINES. Long lines involving perishable items. Long lines involving medicine. Long lines involving vehicles running on a limited supply (tankful or less) of gas. Long lines of enraged people. What a great way to prove one’s worthiness to be Commander in Chief. Let’s see if the Governor of Florida can top that!

Sure enough in the “I am the better Trump” contest, the Florida Governor responded with his Disney ploy. As payback for Disney daring to defy the would-be 2024 presidential candidate’s action, the Governor responded in adult fashion with “Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! I’ll show you who is boss.” He thereupon took away Disney’s self-governing status and passed the huge tax-buck onto the surrounding counties which now have to pick up the tab. Fortunately for those counties, the Governor’s action may not be legal since it requires legislative approval. Thus the biggest Florida state tax increase may be averted.

These examples illustrate the truism of unintended consequences. After decades of clamoring for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the dog chasing the car finally caught it. Now what?

SUPPOSE THE ALITO DECISION HAD BEEN FIRST

First, let’s engage in a hypothetical. Suppose the Alito decision had been the decision of the Court in the original Roe v. Wade case, what would have happened then? Obviously there is no way to know for sure but some actions seem likely.

1. States would have proceeded to pass their own laws much as they have been doing and will do based on the expected ruling.

2. There would have been an effort to pass a privacy amendment to the Constitution. Given the widespread use of surveillance cameras and the intrusions of Big Tech, such an amendment is needed now more than ever. It is not enough to rely on judges inhaling vaporous emanations from the Constitution to pass legislation. We still need such an amendment.

3. Supreme Court ratifications would be more civil. Since the abortion decision had been remanded to the states, the rancor over Supreme Court approvals would have diminished. There would have been no need to hold a vacancy open for months on end. There would have been no need to rush an approval through either. There would have been no need for Senators to carry on like crazy people posturing for the infamous base. Candidates would not have had to lie to Senators. Just think, the reversal is due to three liars and a fourth judge who should have recused himself on 1/6-related cases because his wife is a co-conspirator.

4. People would not have had to hold their nose when voting for a President because of the desire to have the winner appoint judges who would reverse Roe v. Wade.

Politics in the United States would have been much different these last 50 years if so much of it was not viewed through the prism of abortion.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

The list of unintended consequences is only beginning to emerge.

1. When does child support start?
2. When can you take a child deduction for taxes?
3. Can you deport a pregnant woman or will citizenship be based on where conception occurred?
4. What happens in cases of assault and/or abuse if person-fetus is harmed?
5. What happens in cases of assault and/or abuse if the person-fetus is murdered?
6. What happens if the mother smokes, drinks, or uses drugs and risks the health of person-fetus?
7. What happens in the multiple test-tube fertilizations when the excess is discarded? Who will be charged with murder?
8. What other prohibitions will be sought as medical technology continues to develop alternate means of achieving the same ends of an abortion without technically having one? Will mail be searched or prohibited? Will out-of-state travel be restricted? Will states have to build a wall to prevent travel?

Think of what happened when Covid-is-a-hoax and the vaccine-is worse-than-the-disease people then died of Covid. What happens when unwanted pregnancies occur in anti-abortion families? What happens when the women who men are trying to control have an unwanted pregnancy and decide they want an abortion? To the best of my knowledge there are no state laws asserting that no woman can have an unwanted pregnancy just as the body cannot prevent a pregnancy due to rape. What will those pregnant women then do? Will the first words of the mother upon giving birth be “Where is the nearest fire station?” How much time will be allowed before maternity wards release the unwanted baby? Are fire stations going to be redesigned with drop-off receptacles for the unwanted babies? Will those receptacles be subject to the same security rules and restrictions as drop-off voting bins? So many questions. So few answers.

Remember what happened the last time the wishes of the Evangelicals were fulfilled? For decades, Protestant evangelicals had rallied for the prohibition of alcohol on a national level. It was not enough that alcohol sometimes was prohibited locally or on Sunday. It needed to be banned everywhere for all times … except for medicinal purposes, of course. Those efforts eventually paid off. That time it was not through the Supreme Court but in an amendment to the Constitution. Welcome to the Roaring Twenties. The amendment soon was reversed in abrupt fashion. The fervor of the religious could not overcome the wishes of the majority of the Americans. Once the law went into effect, everybody was confronted with its meaning and impact and eventually the majority prevailed.