| "In June 2020, when lawyers for Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to hear a case involving the state's 15-week abortion ban," columnist Ruth Marcus writes, "they took care to assure the justices that this wasn't the big one, the case that would call on the court to overrule Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion." You can guess what happens next. In her column, Marcus walks us through Mississippi's big bait-and-switch. Perhaps the state's lawyers initially intended to honor their promise, but when Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death meant another conservative on the court, "the gloves came off." Mississippi's full brief this summer took aim right at Roe. It's possible the justices, who just set Dec. 1 for the case's oral argument, will ignore Mississippi's belated ploy to overturn the precedent outright. In fact, Marcus's best guess is that they do hold back. But the part of the case they've already committed to deciding is threat enough to abortion rights. She writes: "There is not much hope, given the makeup of this court, of invalidating the Mississippi law. The looming choice is between two forms of disaster, immediate and slow-motion."  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) "Roe v. Wade" hangs by a fraying thread. By Ruth Marcus ● Read more » | | | | Rooting out actual misconduct is not the point of any of this. The real goal is to sow and normalize mistrust in the electoral system. By Karen Tumulty ● Read more » | | | | The bill goes far beyond what most of the world permits and what most Americans want. By Henry Olsen ● Read more » | | | Every year, billions of dollars are pumped into a wellness industry defined by the theory that we can be perfected. By Kate Bowler ● Read more » | | | | The details of the legislation are not finalized, but here's a guide to where things stand. By Perry Bacon Jr. ● Read more » | | | | Triage tents in the parking lot. Former nurses back on duty. Doctors cleaning rooms. All because of the unvaccinated. I fear what the winter will bring. By Karthikeyan Muthuswamy ● Read more » | | | | The world economy was utterly transformed by a 1956 technology that few people, accustomed to digital marvels, would count as a technology: the shipping container. By George F. Will ● Read more » | | | |
Email 
