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Chemerinsky: Precedent seems to matter little in the Roberts Court
Erwin Chemerinsky. Photo by Jim Block.
How much weight does the Roberts Court give to precedent? This is the crucial underlying question now that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted review in
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which puts the fate of
Roe v. Wade before the justices. The case concerns a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy.
The court has said the “essential holding” of
Roe v. Wade is that states cannot prohibit abortions prior to viability, the time at which the fetus can survive outside the womb. That, at the earliest, is the 22nd or 23rd week of pregnancy. The Supreme Court, in granting review in the Mississippi case, said the issue before it is whether states can prohibit abortions before viability.