The Greatest Victory in the History of the Conservative Movement

Roe is dead. It took a mixture of institution-building and bare-knuckles politics to get to this moment.

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Pro-life demonstrators celebrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization abortion case overturning Roe v. Wade in Washington, D.C., June 24, 2022.

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

‘Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

No matter how many times I read that sentence from Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion, it does not feel quite real. For nearly a half century, the constitutional malpractice of Roe v. Wade has loomed over American politics. Nobody below retirement age really remembers a time when it wasn’t on the books. The conservative coalition as we’ve known it for decades arose out of the aftermath of Roe. But despite all the hard work, the organizing, the protesting, and fighting for the nomination and confirmation of judges who would actually uphold the U.S. Constitution, overturning it seemed ever elusive.

Philip Klein

About the Author

Philip Klein

Philip Klein is the editor of National Review Online.

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