Thursday, October 02, 2008

Wow, She's Worse Than I Expected


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First of all she says she's a federalist, while giving the exact opposite definition of a federalist. Then she claims there's an inherent right to privacy in the constitution even though that's the basis of the Roe decision she thinks should be left to the states. Then when not being able to name another decision she babbles something about stuff being better decided by the states which shows a complete lack of understanding of constitutional analysis. She is not qualified to select justices.

People have liberties. The state and and federal governments have limited powers that can infringe on those liberties. The rights of people cannot be infringed by the government, they are a limit on government powers. Some powers are given to the federal government some to the states. It's not that decisions should be left to the states. Either the federal government has a power to do something or it doesn't. Or if a person has a right to do something, then neither the state or federal government can take that away. The Supreme Court has stated you have a right to send your child to private school or to teach them a foreign language and that states may not prevent that. They've also said you have a right to use and talk about birth control and the states may not take that away. These rights are not enumerated in the constitution but you have them anyway because (in part) the supreme court has found they are part of liberty.

By saying that there is a right to privacy and that abortion is covered by that right, you're saying the government can't take that away. Of course few rights are unlimited and when other things impact that right, difficult rules come into play. Biden tries to explain that Roe is a compromise and that in the 3rd trimester, the government's obligation to protect the fetus limits the rights of the mother.

For some reason Biden didn't mention that the trimester formula of Roe was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The new rule is that states may limit abortions as long as the limitations do not put an "undue burden" on the woman. Spousal notification requirements are an undue burden, 24 hour waiting periods and parental notifications are not undue burdens and can be required by the states.

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