The draft of Alito’s decision in Roe v. Wade uses language that threatens many other liberties we as a society have taken for granted for more than the 49 years of the Roe decision. We should not forget Alito’s strong dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges, the marriage equality case. There are many civil liberties not explicitly stated in the Constitution, a document written more than 200 years ago.
True, the Constitution describes a mechanism for making particular changes, called amendments. The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments are an example; giving women the vote is another. But even as broad as the Bill of Rights is, there are many civil liberties and protections not explicitly named, such as privacy within the intimate relationship of marriage, which led to Griswold v. Connecticut, which said a state could not prohibit the use of contraceptives in that relationship.
The world has changed since 1787 and our ideas of justice have changed as we have grown and developed as a society. We no longer hang children nor do we flog persons as punishment for crimes. They would now be considered in violation of the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. Would the Court revert to an eighteenth century understanding of what is cruel or unusual as well?
Prayer for the Day
Abiding God, we ask for your presence in our lives,
As we seek to serve you in this world;
Move us from our gray tinted spectacles,
Into the multi-colored world of your kingdom.
Open our eyes beyond what we see with our eyes
And our minds beyond mere thoughts to a deeper knowledge
In the name of him who opens the world to us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
- Audre Lorde, American activist and writer
Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe,
The powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice.
Amos 7:3