Radical leftists have vowed to resist the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization overruling Roe v. Wade, which had manufactured a constitutional “right” to abortion. The leftists have declared war on the Supreme Court’s legitimacy. Diehard segregationists did pretty much the same thing during the middle of the twentieth century after the Supreme Court announced its historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ruled that the doctrine of “separate but equal” was unconstitutional.
In both cases, the Supreme Court took the unusual step of overruling precedents that were nearly 50 years old. The justices then and now have recognized the destabilizing effect of cavalierly dismissing precedents as no longer relevant in deciding the cases before them. But at the same time, justices then and now have not turned a blind eye to precedents that they believed in good faith, with the passage of time, were grievously wrong as a matter of fundamental constitutional law.
Supreme Court justices’ human judgments are not divine pronouncements that can never be changed. The segregationists in and out of Congress who attacked the Supreme Court after the Brown v. Board of Education decision thought otherwise because they did not like the outcome. They believed that the doctrine of “separate but equal” set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson was infallible law. Likewise, pro-abortion militants believed in the infallibility of the constitutional “right” created out of whole cloth in Roe v. Wade. They are convinced that the Supreme Court majority defiled something sacred when they returned the public policy issue of abortion to elected state officials and their constituents.
In short, supporters of both flawed precedents believed the precedents were sacrosanct and were apoplectic over their reversals.
Mississippi Senator James Eastland, a Democrat, declared after the Brown v. Board of Education decision was announced that “the South will not abide by nor obey this legislative decision by a political body.” Georgia Congressman James Davis complained of “usurpation of power which amounts to tyranny.”
Democrat Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia, whom Joe Biden praised as “fiercely devoted to his principles” and a “mentor” in remarks at Senator Byrd’s funeral, was devoted to the principle of “Massive Resistance” against the implementation of the Brown decision.
Opponents of the Brown decision tried to abolish life tenure on the Supreme Court and to cut back on its judicial powers. Senator Strom Thurmond urged the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren and other Supreme Court justices.
Segregationists engaged in intimidation of black families with threats and acts of violence.
If we replace the word “segregationists” with the words “pro-abortion militants,” the players are different, but the playbook is largely the same. Instead of the segregationists’ rallying cry “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” pro-abortionists’ rallying cry emblazoned on their t-shirts is “Free Abortions On Demand Without Apology.”
Democrats in Congress fired up their radical pro-abortion base with inflammatory rhetoric.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said on the day the Dobbs decision was announced that “today is one of the darkest days our country has ever seen.” Senator Schumer was evidently upset that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh had not heeded his threat back in 2020 that they “will pay the price” and “won’t know what hit them” if they vote against abortion rights.
Massachusetts Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren declared that the Supreme Court “has lost legitimacy.” After listing other Supreme Court decisions that she did not like, Senator Warren claimed that the overruling of Roe v. Wade was the last straw. “They just took the last of it and set a torch to it,” she said. “I believe we need to get some confidence back in our court and that means we need more justices on the United States Supreme Court.”
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) went even further in her call for resistance to the Supreme Court’s ruling. “The hell with the Supreme Court,” she exclaimed on the steps of the Supreme Court. “We will defy them.”
New York Democratic-Socialist Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that the Supreme Court “dramatically overreached its authority. This is a crisis of legitimacy.” AOC added that there should be consequences “for such a deeply destabilizing action and a hostile takeover of our democratic institutions.” She demanded impeachment of the conservative justices whom she falsely accused of lying about their intentions during their confirmation hearings.
AOC failed to explain how returning the power to the people and their elected representatives in every state to decide the appropriate abortion policy for their state is not the essence of democracy. She said that elections were not enough to bring about change and urged pro-abortion advocates to go out into the streets to protest. As usual, AOC appealed to raw emotion, rather than reason.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who presides over a city with out-of-control black-on-black crime, cursed out Justice Clarence Thomas. “F— Clarence Thomas,” she shouted.
We heard no strong calls for peaceful protests from Democrat leaders, except one time from President Biden near the end of his denunciation of the Supreme Court’s Dodd decision.
Even some foreign leaders have gotten into the act, sticking their noses where they don’t belong. The most outrageous criticism came from the hypocrite Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called the overruling of Roe v. Wade “horrific.” Prime Minister Trudeau added, “No government, politician, or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body.”
Trudeau had no trouble telling Canadian truck drivers what must be injected into their bodies, whether they liked it or not. He invoked emergency powers to quell peaceful protests by Canadian truck drivers and their supporters against the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Pro-abortion militants and their supporters need no encouragement from politicians spewing incendiary rhetoric to express their rage in the streets. They have conducted loud protests in front of conservative justices’ homes for weeks since the draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion was leaked. One man traveled a long distance to reach Justice Kavanaugh’s home with the intention to kill him, until the would-be assassin had a last-minute change of heart.
A radical group that calls itself Jane’s Revenge claimed credit for vandalism and acts of destruction against churches and pregnancy care centers across the country even before the final decision overturning Roe v. Wade was announced. It promised more violence following the official release of the decision.
A flyer signed with Jane’s Revenge’s name told the pro-abortion mob: “THE NIGHT SCOTUS OVERTURNS ROE V. WADE HIT THE STREETS YOU SAID YOU’D RIOT. TO OUR OPPRESSORS: IF ABORTIONS AREN’T SAFE, YOU’RE NOT EITHER.”
The mobs responded on cue.
Pro-abortion militants in Los Angeles threw blow torches, fireworks, rocks, and bottles at police officers, causing injuries. A 30-year-old man allegedly attacked a police officer with a “makeshift flamethrower.” He was arrested and could be charged with attempted murder.
The Police Protective League issued a statement on June 25th condemning the violence in Los Angeles. “As a society, it should be easy to condemn attacking police officers with improvised blowtorches, or throwing fireworks, rocks and bottles at officers under the guise of ‘protest.’ Yet, the silence is deafening from our so-called community’s leaders,” the Police Protective League said. “This type of raw violence on display in Los Angeles and across the nation from dangerous mobs hell-bent on destruction has nothing to do with a woman’s right to choose. Rather, it is nothing more than disgusting opportunistic behavior carried out by criminals hiding behind our First Amendment.”
Pro-abortion militants tried to break into the Arizona state capitol building. They trapped Arizona legislators inside until the rioters were dispersed by law enforcement. Arizona’s Attorney General Mark Brnovich said, “We must never tolerate these criminal attempts to tear down our institutions and intimidate our officials.”
As Daniel Greenfield asked in his FrontPage Magazine article, “Where Are the Abortion Insurrection Hearings?”
Portland, Oregon, the scene of frequent violence during the last two years, experienced violence again in the wake of the overruling of Roe v. Wade. Police were attacked with firebombs, windows were smashed, and businesses were vandalized.
Segregationists declared their resistance to the Supreme Court, charging that the Court had substituted “naked power for established law” in the Brown decision that overruled Plessy v. Ferguson. Today, pro-abortion militants are acting essentially the same way, promising a “summer of rage” in response to the overruling of Roe v. Wade.
It seems, as the saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Leave a Reply