Written by: Mansi Desai
Edited by: Marvin Kimwon
With the Supreme Court reconvening for the first time since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, what can Americans expect to see from the nation’s highest court? On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision made in Roe v. Wade which federally protected a woman’s right to have an abortion. Through this decision, the Court decided to allow states to make decisions about women’s reproductive rights, including the right to allow women to have an abortion in their respective state. On October 3, Justice Jackson joined the Court, as the first Black sit on the bench, as they moved towards reconvening in person for this next term. This next term, Justices will hear cases on affirmative action, gays rights, and environment policies. With a primarily conservative Court, many Americans fear that the Supreme Court will turn into the “Thomas Court'' given the possibility of Justice Thomas taking advantage of his ability to convince his conservative colleagues to help him overturn precedents he has been arguing for a long time including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.
While it appears that the Court’s conservatives are ready to end affirmative action in higher education, many fear that this will give way to the Court coining the term “colorblind” as it pertains to the way the Constitution views race. If race were to be eliminated as a factor in students’ admissions, many fear that voting rights and adoption policies will also become “colorblind'' where race is concerned. This can result in great chaos as the midterm elections are quickly approaching and racial equality is on the ballot for many. LGBTQ+ rights are also on the ballot as the Court will hear a case about a wedding website designer Lorie Smith who is “forced” to serve LGBTQ couples under a Colorado public accommodation law. Smith argues that this law goes against her core beliefs and violates her right to free speech. Given Justice Thomas’s remark about revisiting previous cases guaranteeing LGBTQ+ couples equal rights and this case on the docket, the stakes for LGBTQ+ people are extremely high and the American people will have to watch closely as we may have to grapple with the idea of losing yet another constitutional right.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade in June put the rights’ of women and LGBTQ+ people at risk across the nation as it stripped women of the right to make decisions about their body and threatened to take away rights from LGBTQ+ people in coming cases. Restricting women’s reproductive rights was just the first step. After Justice Thomas’s comment in his concurring opinion, Americans, primarily women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, should be wary of what this Court will do in this upcoming term. The Supreme Court is slowly inching back towards its conservative agenda. They are trying to silence the people, but the people will not be silenced. Americans are coming together in large groups to protest against the Court’s conservative decisions. The public is furious! As the Court reconvenes this Fall and midterm elections are only a month away, Americans across the country will be watching the Court closely as they begin to hear cases that will completely change America’s future, for better or for worse.
[The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the author alone; they do not necessarily represent the views of all members of the RULR Editorial Board and Rutgers University]
Comments