As so many others are doing, I am studying and digesting the oral arguments that took place Wednesday at the US Supreme Court in the Dobbs abortion case, the most significant abortion case the Court has heard in decades. I am privileged to talk regularly with the top pro-life legal experts in the country, and have studied all the briefs in this case and discussed many of them with the attorneys who wrote them. I was able to listen to the oral arguments as they took place on Wednesday, and to study the transcript of them afterwords.
As many others agree, I am very confident that the Court will give us a victory here. I was encouraged by the oral arguments, and by the questions the Justices (including Roberts) were asking. I was able to be with MS Solicitor General Scott Stewart, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Wednesday night, at a dinner celebration of the day’s events, and they too were very encouraged.
The abortion-supporting Justices (Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor) had nothing new to add to the tired, time-worn assertions of Roe and Casey. They did not demonstrate that anything about our current abortion policy is rooted in the Constitution or in the history, traditions, or legal practices of our country.
And they utterly failed to refute the powerful arguments from the State of Mississippi and the record number of pro-life briefs submitted in support of them.
Now today, the Justices met to discuss and vote on this case. An initial decision has been made. They are not going to reveal that decision to the public until they write their opinions, and technically, they can change their minds as they go back and forth among themselves in the process of writing those opinions.
But again, I am confident, and have been from the beginning, that – to put it simply – the Supreme Court is going to give much more leeway to the states to not just regulate but actually prohibit abortion.
Exactly how much leeway, and on what Constitutional basis, is the question.
And I want to break that down for you in the weeks ahead.
So very simply, I want to urge you to
- Learn the arguments in this case. Go to www.SupremeCourtVictory.com and see the “Arguments” tab for all the detail you need.
- Watch my program from the other night in which I share a bit more of my observations about the oral arguments. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/3raviq1AOO4
- Keep praying! At www.SupremeCourtVictory.com, go to the “Prayer Campaign” tab, use the prayer, and spread it to others.
And stay tuned to your email inbox for further analysis from me about the direction this case can take.
Blessings, and onward to victory!
Fr. Frank Pavone
Read Part Two of Fr. Frank Pavone's Assessment