Roe v. Wade overturned: The curtain closes on America
Why the elimination of women’s most fundamental right is a reduction of all our rights, and shouldn’t even be questioned in the first place
I was one of those geeks in law school who actually loved law: I loved both the academics behind the law — I truly enjoyed law school — as well as the profound social impacts of our legal system.
When the Great Recession of 2008 tragically scuttled all my law firm job offers following the bar exam and I ended up founding a series of tech startups instead, a part of me always felt sad, longing for the legal career I had put on indefinite hold. (Until now.)
I still remember vividly my first steps into the hallowed halls of our Supreme Court during the winter break of my final year of law school; The Paper Chase and Love Story fast became two of my favorite films; A Lawyer Walks into a Bar — a sort of Somm but about law students instead of sommeliers — served as psychological prep for my bar exam; Boston Legal is, apart from the various Star Trek series, my all-time favorite TV show; and The Notorious RBG[1] was a masterpiece — I was moved to tears by the documentary, just as I had been moved to tears the first time I stood before President Lincoln’s memorial, and at the steps of our Nation’s Capitol.
So to see the travesty that has become of our Supreme Court, effectively a reflection of the apocryphal unravelling of the legal profession itself, in turn due to our corrupt, bribery-fueled two-party rivalry — dare I say, a pointed mockery of our country’s legal sanctity — is truly heart breaking for me indeed, not to mention deeply infuriating. Tears of angry sorrow, then, rather than profound reverence.
The potential and seemingly imminent reversal of Roe — in whole or in part — is no more absurd or perverse a thing to consider than if the First Amendment itself were abridged in any way. In fact, it is arguably even more draconic: of what use is free speech if one doesn’t have full liberty over one’s body?
