A friend writes:

Jonah,
Does Berkowitz believe Roe v. Wade should stand? If so, then your point about making lawyers/judges into priests stands. But if Berkowitz opposes a federal mandate one way or the other, and supports the general dispensation Ramesh proposes (i.e., delegating legal strictures to the states), his disagreement with Ramesh is a principled — not practical — one. He’s simply making the case (rightly, in my mind) that once individual states have the final say, they should avoid making abortion illegal across the board, just like, say, killing isn’t made illegal across the board, hence the need for the word “murder.” Of course, this still may allow for some level of a legal priesthood on the state level, but what wouldn’t?