As our good friend and BenchMemos force Ed Whelan reminds me, the “Catholic” justices in the partial birth abortion case (Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito) have merely deferred to the political branches on this question. In other words, consistent with the actual Constitution, they leave it up to the political branches whether or not there should be limits on partial-birth abortion. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her fellow dissenters, by contrast, would impose a position that reflects (from all we can tell) their substantive policy preferences.