James Buckley Foresaw Demise of Roe v. Wade

On this 49th anniversary — though to call it that sounds just wrong, since “anniversary” has a sense of celebration — of the Roe v. Wade decision, that thing which dissenting Justice Byron White scorned as “an exercise of raw judicial power . . . an improvident and extravagant exercise of the power of judicial review that the Constitution extends to this Court,” it’s worth remembering, and maybe even reveling in, a 1985 essay, a clarion of hope and foresight, that the great James Lane Buckley wrote for the Human Life Review.

Adapted from a speech he gave earlier that year to the Delaware Pro-Life Coalition, the Buckley essay, “Sound Doctrine Revisited,” has kindly been released by the Human Life Review. (If you are not a subscriber, you should be: Sign up here.) It’s available here.

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Jack Fowler

Jack Fowler is a contributing editor at National Review and a senior philanthropy consultant at American Philanthropic.

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Roe v. Wade

On this 49th anniversary — though to call it that sounds just wrong, since “anniversary” has a sense of celebration — of the Roe v. Wade decision, that thing which dissenting Justice Byron White scorned as “an exercise of raw judicial power . . . an improvident and extravagant exercise of the power of judicial review that the Constitution extends to this Court,” it’s worth remembering, and maybe even reveling in, a 1985 essay, a clarion of hope and foresight, that the great James Lane Buckley wrote for the Human Life Review.

Adapted from a speech he gave earlier that year to the Delaware Pro-Life Coalition, the Buckley essay, “Sound Doctrine Revisited,” has kindly been released by the Human Life Review. (If you are not a subscriber, you should be: Sign up here.) It’s available here.