The protections discussed in Alito’s opinion range from the right to same-sex marriage the high court declared in 2015 to the right to contraception established in 1965 to the right to engage in interracial marriage adopted by the court in 1967.Īfter citing 14 such cases, Alito declares them irrelevant to abortion and confidently asserts that yanking Roe from the fabric of American jurisprudence would pose no threat whatsoever to any of those rights. Bush appointee forcefully insisted that setting aside Roe wouldn’t impact any right other than abortion.
“There are a lot of decisions that rest on this right of privacy that springs not just from the Bill of Rights, but also the 14th Amendment and the concept of liberty in this country.”Īlito actually included in his proposed opinion a helpful list of rights arguably undercut by overturning Roe, even as the conservative George W. “They kicked the ladder out from under the right of privacy in the Constitution,” McCaskill said on MSNBC.
Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) struck a similar note of alarm, warning that almost any right grounded in concerns about personal privacy was in jeopardy if an opinion like Alito’s becomes law.
