The Supreme Court

Supreme Court Justices have the power to influence every factor of our lives with their decisions as the highest court in the United States-- from the right to privacy to the right to free speech. Supreme Court decisions affect every law in the nation, and Supreme Court Justices serve lifetime appointments.

How Safe is Roe v. Wade?

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision women have lost ground to an anti-choice movement whose aggressive behavior has passed many onerous restrictions to abortion rights and threatened to crush the very rights it took generations to win-- both through legislation and through Supreme Court decisions.

Most political scholars agree that George W. Bush will make 2-3 appointments to the Supreme Court, given the age of many of the Justices. Currently, the Court is divided 3-3-3 on choice, with 3 anti-choice Justices, 3 pro-choice Justices (two likely to retire), and 3 Justices with a mixed voting record on choice (with Sandra Day O'Connor, often called the "swing voter," likely to retire). Just one more staunchly anti-choice Justice could shift the balance in the Supreme Court and overturn Roe.

The Supreme Court can -- and has -- hand down historic decisions with just a 5-4 vote. With the recent Bush v. Gore election case, the country watched a bitterly split Court decide by just one vote the presidency of the United States, putting into office a man who called Justices Scalia and Thomas - the two most ardent anti-choice votes on the Court - his "model Justices." We must make it known that we will not accept a Supreme Court Justice modeled after Thomas and Scalia, who would turn back the clock on women's rights.

If Roe is reversed, women will be returned to the days of unsafe, back-alley abortions. Some women will be maimed, some will die, and others will suffer the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy.

If Roe is reversed, our fundamental right to privacy - upon which the Court's decision was based - is in jeopardy. And two other landmark cases, Griswold v. Connecticut and Eisenstadt v. Baird - both of which made birth control legal through the right to privacy- would also be at stake.

Fighting anti-choice nominations to the Supreme Court is crucial in saving Roe v. Wade and women's reproductive rights. Nominations, made by the President, are first deliberated by the Senate Judiciary Committee; then they proceed to the entire Senate for a vote to confirm or deny appointment. We must be vigilant, and we must fight anti-choice nominations to the Supreme Court.