New York, July 8—The vote in June by the Senate on the abortion question is primarily interesting in revealing as it does the tendency to adopt the Constitution of the United States as one’s personal instrument. If you believe in A, then it has become popular to say that A is protected by the Constitution. Needless to say the argument is advanced if it happens that the Supreme Court says the same thing.
The sponsors of the Hatch Amendment asked the Senate to vote on the following ten words: “A right to abortion is not secured by this Constitution.” Now fifty members of the Senate voted against that declaration (which is what it was, primarily). This raises the interesting question: What is it that we have known about the intentions of the Framers of the Constitution since 1973 that we did not know before that? Daniel Patrick Moynihan is a scholar of considerable note. 1 would cherish giving him an examination question: “Name five constitutional scholars who, before 1973, believed that the right to abortion is secured by the Constitution.” 1 am a generous schoolmaster, and would therefore give Professor Moynihan five weeks in which to answer that question. And 1 would permit him to seek the aid of fellow senators with advanced academic training who voted the idiocy of June 28—including former Rhodes Scholars Bill Bradley and Paul Sarbanes, and Master’s-degree holders Claiborne Pell, Nancy Kassebaum, and John Tower.
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