Might New Supreme Court Justices Put Casey – and Roe — In Jeopardy?
Against this background, McCorvey’s suit to re-open Roe is plainly an act of desperation, geared to generate some momentum toward another run at erasing the constitutional right to abortion. But that kind of attempt will prove futile – unless, of course, dramatic changes happen on the Supreme Court. Even if President Bush is re-elected, in order to overrule Casey – or Roe – he would need to replace two pro-abortion-rights Justices with two Justices of the opposite persuasion. That seems unlikely to happen. For one thing, some of the Justices who might retire (such as Chief Justice Rehnquist) are anti-Roe – and would simply be replaced by Justices with the same view, making the change a wash, as far as this issue is concerned. For another thing, judicial appointments that would lead to the reversal of Roe could mean political suicide for the Republican Party – and the organization and mobilization of pro-choice Democrats in heretofore-unseen numbers. But it is at least possible, in some
