Under the baobab: After Roe ruling, remember that elections have consequences
The former president appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. All three voted to overturn Roe V. Wade. The day before all three were the bulk of the opinion that overturned New York’s prohibition of open carry of guns. Thomas Emerson, my mentor, and Justice Clarence Thomas’ teacher at Yale Law School, would be incensed.
In 1965 Emerson was the chief litigant for the plaintiff in Griswold V. Connecticut, which established the idea of the Constitutional embedded right to privacy. A Connecticut law prohibited couples from using birth control. The Supreme Court voted 7-2 to invalidate the law on the grounds that it violated the right to marital privacy. The Court held that “marital privacy” was a fundamental constitutional right, but struggled to identify a particular source for the right in the Constitution. The Court found that the marital privacy right was implied by the specific provisions of the Bill of Rights, such as those in the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Referencing earlier cases, the Court found personal liberties that were constitutionally protected despite not being specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Justice Douglas, who had been Emerson’s professor at Yale Law School stated,
“The foregoing cases suggest that specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance. Various guarantees create zones of privacy.”
Griswold had many progeny including Roe v. Wade in 1973, Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, which upheld a right to homosexual relations; Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, which upheld the right to same sex marriage. In addition, Loving v. Virginia in 1967, which upheld interracial marriage, is directly affected by the invalidation of a Constitutional right to privacy.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, “The Constitution does not constrain the States’ ability to regulate or even prohibit abortion. This Court created the right to abortion based on an amorphous, unwritten right to privacy.” After the recent decision, he further stated, “… in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous.’’’ Justice Thomas graduated the year before I started Yale Law. He was appointed to the Court by another Republican president after a controversial confirmation hearing. He is presently the longest serving justice. Elections will indeed have consequences, come November.
Still a time to celebrate
Penn State celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Several hundred people joined current and incoming athletic directors Sandy Barbour and Pat Kraft, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, Anna Camden, star starter for the Lady Lions Basketball team, and others in a “Roar and Rally” event put together by the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics and the Gender Equity Center. It gave us all a chance to welcome home Lady Lions returning alumnae stars Maggie Lucas and Terri Williams.
President Bendapudi also gave opening remarks to the nearly 200 attendees at the Community Diversity Conference, sponsored by the Community Diversity Group. Emil L. Cunningham was the master of ceremonies and Dr. Stacee Reicherzer gave the keynote address.
The Central Pennsylvania Theater and Dance Festival rebounded in 2022 with 43 live performances by 30 groups. CPTDF opened Friday night with preview performances in Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza and poetry readings by local authors; Audrey (Drey) Kharem, Jim Colbert, Mary Rohrer-Dann, Terry Watson, Tierra Williams, Steven Deutsch and 3 Dots manager, Erica Quinn.
The State College Borough and Happy Valley Adventure Bureau raised a grant to develop better signage for the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza. Summer Sounds at Bellefonte’s Talleyrand Park Gazebo resumed with visits from the Lindy Sisters and John Mills, a Mills Brothers descendant whose family still resides in Bellefonte. The 16th Penn State Powwow resumed, thanks to Victoria and John Sanchez.