Well, if you were watching the news, Friday was a major day. Epic, really! The Supreme Court of the United States did some supreme work overall this past week and Friday capped off some amazing judicial victories for the conservative cause.
In one week, the Supreme Court affirmatively answered the conservatives of America on the right to bear arms; the right of parents to move their children to a better education regardless of faith content; the right of state leaders to sue the federal government for redress; and then to top it all off, the 50-year fight for life was advanced by the landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to end the tyranny of Roe v. Wade.
In legal terms, Friday was a landmark ruling day. In sports terms, it would be a blowout victory. In Wall Street terms all market indicators were up. In politics, it was like a definitive win without a runoff.
But in the slang of soldiers on the battlefield, SCOTUS brought the Scunion!
I love that word. I’m not sure why, I just do. “Scunion” sort of encapsulates the sense that something came down hard, strong and decisive. Rumor has it that “scunion” was a word that came into the military lexicon back in Vietnam. It meant that you were laying down the heat on the enemy. No letting up until the decisive win was in the bag - scunion. And the Supreme Court brought some SCOTUS scunion.
There was talk of whether or not the ruling would leave wiggle room. Debate ahead of time considered whether or not the justices would be less than deliberative. The question was whether the Court would confine any opinion solely to the merits of the original Mississippi case and not broaden the opinion to the full effects of impacting prior rulings on abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade
Nope. Not the slightest bit of hesitancy. Here’s the actual quote from the posting on the Supreme Court’s own website: “Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; The authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
That my friends is the legal version of rounds on target with devastating effect; that is SCOTUS Scunion.
But the opinions handed down this past week were not random or blanketing. On the contrary, they were targeted and focused.
I once sat on my FOB in central Baghdad and watched a Spectre gunship rain down fire and brimstone on the north side of an area called Sadr City. It was nighttime. We could hear Spectre overhead but we could only see it with night vision. Several of us literally got out lawn chairs and night vision goggles and watched as heat rained down in the form of 25mm Gatling guns, 40mm Bofors repeating cannons, and a 105mm howitzer bringing overwhelming precision fire from up in the nosebleed section. I don’t know what they were targeting, but whatever it was didn’t stand a chance. It was apparent that Spectre was bringing the scunion and that’s exactly what it was: strong, decisive, and final without any equivocation. But despite such overwhelming firepower based on one airborne platform the weapons systems used by Spectre gunships are amazingly hyperfocused and pinpoint in their accuracy. Friday’s ruling on abortion was exactly that in the legal sense. SCOTUS brought the scunion.
But let’s talk about what Friday’s ruling was not about, and this is necessary due to the intellectual dishonesty already being foisted on the general public. Much like the fact that Spectre gunships use precision targeting systems to put highly effective rounds on target, the Supreme Court - while overwhelming and decisive as the Dobbs ruling may be - it did not, and I say again, did not, broaden the scope as President Biden and others would have their less informed followers to believe.
First of all, despite the fact that I wish that it did, the Dobbs opinion does not “outlaw abortion.” Instead, what the Court actually did is embrace federalism and clarify the Constitution. The majority opinion was clear that the Constitution never actually conferred a “Constitutional right” to an abortion in the same manner in which it protects speech, assembly, religion, and the right to bear arms, among others. The Supreme Court instead chose to clarify that abortion is a legislative matter; a legislative matter that is potentially available to Congress to enact, but certainly also best devolved to the States. If you live in a state that believes in the right to life and has a state legislature that represents that sentiment, then you can believe from here forward that your state will now be allowed to enact legislation that supports life.
Meanwhile, right across some state lines, there will be differing laws in place that allow for abortion on demand at varying stages of pregnancy.
Indeed, Alabama was one of 13 states that already had what was known as “trigger laws” in place, even to the extent of being enshrined in our state constitution. Those life-supporting laws of the state of Alabama will become the law of our localized land and Alabama is projected to be a largely abortion-free state.
This opinion was also not a referendum on women’s health nor an example of some racist apartheid thinking. Already the clarion call to arms is being made by activists and ignorant supporters of death in the womb who are claiming that all women everywhere have just been trampled under the jackboots of white male tyrannical idealogues. On the contrary, this opinion was rendered by Justices who were black and white, male and female.
Additionally, Biden and others of his brand have already attempted to conflate this focused opinion from SCOTUS on the issue of abortion as somehow affecting same-sex marriage, Obamacare, and other liberal legal idols. Such demagoguery is fallacious and nothing in this ruling strays out from the main points related to abortion and the standing precedents of Roe and Casey.
In a similar fashion, opportunistic elected officials campaigning to keep their jobs in the 2022 midterms are already sending out solicitations for campaign contributions attempting to capitalize on Friday’s ruling. Threats are being made from across the full spectrum such as abolishing the appointed Court, to packing the Court with more liberal justices, to codifying abortion federally, or placing abortion clinics on military installations in states where it is otherwise not available. Such inflammatory rhetoric is sick and represents the lowest form of hubris and attempting to capitalize on the stoking of divisions in our already fractured society.
Elected officials are not gods, but neither should they be children who throw tantrums. Being an elected official at the state or federal level does not in turn authorize the unilateral ability to allegedly change the Constitution, or to alter the framework of the tri-partite branches of government, just because they stamp their feet and demand their way. And fundraising off of that tantrum makes it even worse.
Finally, there are the violent activists. Jane’s Revenge and Ruth Sent Us and other extreme activist organizations were threatening violent protests and terroristic activities before the Dobbs opinion was public. Multiple pregnancy centers have already been defaced and even torched just in the last few weeks. I don’t care how lame this President or how “gravely disappointed” he is. The president still has the ability to press for and enforce a civil calm … and he’d better do just that. The American people have had enough of riots and mayhem and we’re not going to settle for it anymore. I’m truly concerned that someday soon someone is going to rightfully try to defend their life, limb and property from the mob and lives are going to be altered forever.
In the end, Friday, June 24th, 2022 was a huge day that capped off a huge week. It was a week that cemented the ability of the people to be heard by their government. There will be rhetoric, and there will likely be mistruths and protests, but they are now happening after the fact and the law is now the law. Like a Spectre gunship from on high, SCOTUS brought the scunion - hard, deliberative, precise and effective, with devastating effect.
And I for one am glad.
Phil Williams is a former State Senator, retired Army Colonel and combat veteran, and a practicing Attorney. He has served with the leadership of the Alabama Policy Institute and currently hosts Rightside Radio M-F 2-5 pm on WVNN. His column appears every Monday in 1819 News. To contact Phil or request him for a speaking engagement, go to www.rightsideradio.org. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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