Thurs Blogcast: SCOTUS religious school ruling

Today's show is only 30 minutes long due to a very early Rockies game...

Just One Thing: SCOTUS rules and abortion

[UPDATE: The Supreme Court released its opinion in the Bruen gun law case, ruling that New York may NOT require people to prove a specific need to carry a concealed weapon. There is a generalized right for a law-abiding citizen to be able to defend himself/herself and that right cannot be abridged by a government making such a person prove why he or she needs to be able to defend against a specific threat or specific class of threat. Here is the opinion, which was 6-3 with the three liberals dissenting: 20-843 New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen (06/23/2022) (supremecourt.gov)]

As I write this on Wednesday evening, I don't know whether the Supreme Court will on Thursday morning release the two major decisions many folks are waiting for: The Dobbs case on abortion which many people anticipate, based on the leaked first draft of an opinion by Justice Alito, will essentially overturn Roe v Wade, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v Bruen which tests a city's ability to significantly restrict a citizen's ability to carry a concealed firearm. If they do come out on Thursday morning, I don't know that I'll have time to update this blog note but I will talk about them on the show. Just wanted to acknowledge the situation...

BTW, I'm probably where most Americans are regarding abortion: Leaning pro-choice but OK with restrictions on abortions in the third trimester, or even the second half, of a pregnancy, or in the cases of rape or incest (though those situations would typically be dealt with earlier than the second half of a pregnancy.) I'd note that abortions after about 22 weeks represent somewhere around 1% of all abortions. I'd also note that for the first time in some decades we've seen a slight uptick in the number of abortions in the US in recent years.

Some polling info here: Abortion in the U.S.: What the data says | Pew Research Center

And data here: Abortions went up from 2017-2020 for first time in 30 years (nypost.com)

The key when it comes to Supreme Court is that Roe was wrongly decided. It is one of the archetypical examples of a court making law. It must be opposed and overturned on that basis even if you tolerate or like the result. If we allow judges to act as legislators and don't push back as they torture the Constitution to get to a desired outcome, how will we find any moral high ground on which to stand when they torture the Constitution to reach an undesired outcome?

Today's Guest

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled, in the case of Carson v Makin, that a state which is giving money to private schools cannot exclude religiously-affiliated or -based private schools just on the basis of their religiosity. It's the latest in a long series of rulings expanding the ability of government to include religious organizations in wider funding programs. I think this is a great ruling. Attorney Igor Raykin disagrees and we'll debate it to start the show.

Court strikes down Maine’s ban on using public funds at religious schools - SCOTUSblog