Tex the Pontificator

Speaking to a group of law students, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas observed that the abortion issues has taken "hostage" the federal judicial appintment process.

Thomas, who went through heated confirmation hearings in 1991, said that the only thing the process does is "rats out the agenda of the people asking the questions."

Indeed. If you reflect on the typical confirmation hearing, it's a parade of Senators trying to find out what the nominee will do with Roe v. Wade. Some are more direct than others, and some want the case reversed, while some want it upheld. But the constant is that Roe v. Wade is at the center. Even if you think abortion is so beneficial that coupons ought to come with breakfast cereal, surely you can see that this demonstrates that Roe v. Wade was poorly decided.

Whether abortion should be freely available is a legitimate political issue, and had it been decided through the ordinary political process, it would not now be consuming the judicial confirmation process. But Roe v. Wade itself injected the Supreme Court into the political process by pretending that the constitution bears on abortion. In deciding the case as it did, the Supreme Court moved itself further into the political arena--lamentably. Now no one knows how to undo the damage, not that everyone wants it undone.

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