Democrats’ Dangerous Court-Packing Threats

The Supreme Court’s illegal and unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 entailed three kinds of violence: It enabled obvious physical violence toward the unborn, it was a fifth-column assault on the integrity and legitimacy of one of our three branches of government, and it directly attacked the fundamental basis of American democracy by disenfranchising U.S. voters — all of them — through an act of judicial imperialism.

There are some important aspects of American life that are not subject to a vote or to the will of any majority, and bless the wisdom of the Founders for that. We have a Bill of Rights that expressly puts some things — your freedom of speech, your right to the free exercise of your religion, your right to keep and bear arms — beyond the reach of the grubby hands of politicians. Abortion is not on that list. But over the course of the 20th century, the Supreme Court took on the role of an Iran-style “Guardian Council” — one set of black robes is as good as the next! — and began to interpret its authority in an essentially religious way, arrogating to itself the power to strike down laws not because they offended the Bill of Rights or some other part of the text of the Constitution but because they offended the justices’ personal sense of morality. It was out of this development that Roe and many other unconstitutional acts of judicial supremacism were extracted.

About the Author

Kevin D. Williamson

Kevin D. Williamson is a former fellow at National Review Institute and a former roving correspondent for National Review.

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The Supreme Court’s illegal and unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 entailed three kinds of violence: It enabled obvious physical violence toward the unborn, it was a fifth-column assault on the integrity and legitimacy of one of our three branches of government, and it directly attacked the fundamental basis of American democracy by disenfranchising U.S. voters — all of them — through an act of judicial imperialism.

There are some important aspects of American life that are not subject to a vote or to the will of any majority, and bless the wisdom of the Founders for that. We have a Bill of Rights that expressly puts some things — your freedom of speech, your right to the free exercise of your religion, your right to keep and bear arms — beyond the reach of the grubby hands of politicians. Abortion is not on that list. But over the course of the 20th century, the Supreme Court took on the role of an Iran-style “Guardian Council” — one set of black robes is as good as the next! — and began to interpret its authority in an essentially religious way, arrogating to itself the power to strike down laws not because they offended the Bill of Rights or some other part of the text of the Constitution but because they offended the justices’ personal sense of morality. It was out of this development that Roe and many other unconstitutional acts of judicial supremacism were extracted.