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Justice Scalia - Dissents from the Supreme Court's Abortion JurisprudenceJustice Antonin Scalia has repeatedly objected to the Court's abortion decisions since his arrival on the Court in 1987. His strongly worded dissents help illuminate the problematic nature of the Court's abortion policy in general, and its more recent rulings in particular.Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)This case involved a Missouri law that provided various regulations on abortion (e.g., parental notification requirements for abortions performed on minors). The law was challenged as unconstitutional. At one point it seemed possible that the Court might overturn Roe in this case, but Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wanted to rule on the constitutionality of the Missouri law without reexamining Roe at all. O'Connor had a history of opposing Roe's "strict scrutiny" standard of review of abortion regulations; she had upheld numerous state restrictions on the grounds that they did not impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions. But in Webster she wanted to avoid an explicit ruling on Roe. She advocated a more "restrained" approach that did not attempt to answer large constitutional questions. Since the other justices were split on whether or not to uphold Roe, O'Connor had the "swing vote" and her proposed method of settling the case prevailed. Some provisions of the Missouri law were ruled constitutional; others were struck down or weakened. The Court's ruling was confusing and fractured in that different judges concurred and dissented in different parts of the opinion, and gave different reasons for their verdict.Read more at: http://endroe.org/dissentsscalia.aspx
