{"id":2206917,"date":"2024-03-26T19:20:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T23:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breyer-blames-white-men-who-ratified-constitution-for-supreme-court-abortion-decision-book\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T19:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T23:24:22","slug":"breyer-blames-white-men-who-ratified-constitution-for-supreme-court-abortion-decision-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breyer-blames-white-men-who-ratified-constitution-for-supreme-court-abortion-decision-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Breyer attributes Supreme Court abortion decision to &#8216;white men&#8217; behind Constitution ratification: Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbreyer-blames-white-men-who-ratified-constitution-for-supreme-court-abortion-decision-book%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2206917&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Retired Justice\u200b Stephen Breyer, \u200din his new book &#8220;Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism,&#8221; criticizes the Supreme \u2064Court&#8217;s\u2064 overturning of Roe v. Wade\u200d as regressive. He argues against originalism in interpreting the Constitution, highlighting\u200c the impact on women&#8217;s rights throughout history.\u2063 Breyer&#8217;s pragmatic\u2062 approach focuses \u200bon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-violent-crime-in-seattle-reaches-14-year-high\/\" title=\"Report: Violent Crime in Seattle Reaches 14-Year High\">real-life consequences<\/a>, contrasting with the Court&#8217;s conservative shift towards textualism and originalism.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Retired Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/stephen-breyer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stephen Breyer<\/a> believes the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Supreme Court<\/a> decision to overturn\u00a0<em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/roe-v-wade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roe v. Wade<\/a><\/em><\/em> two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-odonnell-americas-first-christmas-that-changed-the-course-of-history\/\" title=\"Exclusive--O'Donnell: America\u2019s First Christmas that Changed the Course of History\">years ago marked<\/a> a \u201cdeeply regressive feature\u201d of the approach to law taken by the high court\u2019s Republican-appointed majority, according to his new book.<\/p>\n<p>Breyer, 85, was an appointee of former President Bill Clinton who retired in 2022, just days after the pivotal <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization <\/em>decision that held states can enact their own laws restricting or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-finalizes-congressional-map-with-two-new-seats\/\" title=\"Texas Finalizes Congressional Map With Two New Seats\">limiting abortion access<\/a>, a 6-3 ruling led by the Republican-appointed majority. <\/p>\n<p>The justice\u2019s new book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Reading-Constitution-Chose-Pragmatism-Textualism-ebook\/dp\/B0CL5DNMBF\/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;dib_tag=se&#038;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mbJkEqRTBKt7PI0clPX8sjnvzPptxtqEtMXD1Z7f6aahN2qWdV1NE_V1OxWF9fZ_YYVP9T3eVLJY0bFairZWSdAiPFaDOfeTKdQL3wCHUOKJzY2QeTT0-9y7I6YxWQUrzKVRcKnF1Jsisi_G8-_vVOvBBgGY53CMDBVHe2iMK4wXUDwzPmxumZvqOl5_XRqUPEF1fazO5GoXhjXYcl6JDopVUdSY6P653m88VxSZ_gU.t2-1bmxQRIUHrv-JI1JP2RYr6x9gfTj7VDzPqEwuRDA&#038;qid=1711471497&#038;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Why I Chose Pragmatism,\u00a0Not\u00a0Textualism\">Why I Chose Pragmatism,\u00a0Not\u00a0Textualism<\/a><\/em> laid out his argument critiquing the \u201coriginalism\u201d jurisprudence often adhered to by Republican-appointed judges to interpret the Constitution.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>FILE \u2013 Then-Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer speaks during an event at the Library of Congress for the 2022 Supreme Court Fellows Program hosted by the Law Library of Congress, Feb. 17, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci, Pool, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIn <em>Dobbs<\/em>, the majority\u2019s reasoning boiled down to one basic proposition: Because the people who ratified the original Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment did not understand the document to protect reproductive rights, the document could not be read, now, as protecting those rights,\u201d Breyer wrote, noting that the landmark abortion case \u201chighlights a deeply regressive feature of the originalist approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Textualism and originalism are considered methodologies for interpreting statutes and the Constitution by some justices on the court that were spearheaded by jurists such as the late Justice Antonin Scalia and other Republican-appointed legal figures such as Edwin Meese and Robert Bork. Textualism typically demands a strict interpretation of the language of the Constitution, while originalism commands adherence to history.<\/p>\n<p>Breyer, who was described as the high court\u2019s pragmatic justice during his 28-year stint on the bench, has a jurisprudence that considers the practical consequences when deciding cases, often focusing on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-pressley-says-student-debt-is-policy-violence\/\" title=\"Rep. Pressley Says Student Debt Is \u2018Policy Violence\u2019\">real-life effects<\/a> on the people who feel the impact of the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>The retired justice noted that his dissent from the <em>Dobbs <\/em>majority, joined by Democratic-appointed Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, \u201cpointed out that \u2018people\u2019 did not ratify the original Constitution in 1788 or the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhite men did,\u201d Breyer wrote, adding that \u201cwomen were not understood as full members of the political community at either of these points in history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breyer wrote in the \u201cface of this progress\u201d from women gaining the right to vote in 1920 to the \u201cright to an abortion\u201d following the 1973 <em>Roe v. Wade <\/em>decision, \u201coriginalism would limit the kinds of liberty interest cognizable under the Fourteenth Amendment to those contemplated by men who existed in a time when women were not considered to have a legal identity separate from their husbands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so, by saying that \u2018we must read our foundational charter as viewed at the time of ratification,\u201d the majority \u2018cosign[ed] women to second-class citizenship,&#8217;\u201d Breyer said.<\/p>\n<p>Breyer noted in his book that he does not consider the high court\u2019s Republican-appointed justices as the ones strictly employing the originalist and textualist methods, writing that there is \u201cevidence that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift that is moving in a textualist and originalist direction.\u201d He cited writings from some Democratic-appointed justices in the minority who have emphasized statutory text and history to support their framework for handling cases.<\/p>\n<p>However, the retired justice made clear that \u201cit should become apparent that strict versions of textualism and originalism simply will not work\u201d as the court moves ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Federal judges adopted originalism and textualism as a broader jurisprudence <a href=\"https:\/\/pacificlegal.org\/originalism-vs-textualism-vs-living-constitutionalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"during the 1980s\">during the 1980s<\/a> in response to the notion of a \u201cLiving Constitution\u201d that was commonly accepted throughout the earlier part of the 20th century. At the time, the Reagan-era Attorney General Edwin Meese was delivering speeches at the Federalist Society calling for a \u201cjurisprudence based on first principles [that] is neither conservative nor liberal, neither right nor left,\u201d but one that interprets the Constitution based on its original language.<\/p>\n<p>While Breyer\u2019s book is mostly focused on scholarly remarks about his time on the court rather than tidbits about his interactions with his eight former colleagues, the justices have taken a more candid approach to opining on his legacy during recent media interviews.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Breyer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2933740\/breyer-hope-for-compromise-before-supreme-court-abortion-ruling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"told\">told<\/a> NBC News\u2019s <em>Meet the Press <\/em>on Sunday he believes it is \u201cpossible\u201d the Supreme Court could one day overrule the <em>Dobbs<\/em>, adding he \u201cdid not think\u201d <em>Roe <\/em>or <em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey <\/em>should be overturned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut who knows?\u201d\u00a0Breyer said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retired Justice Stephen Breyer, in his new book, criticizes the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade as a &#8220;deeply regressive feature&#8221; of the Republican-appointed majority&#8217;s legal approach. Breyer, aged 85, appointed by President Bill Clinton, retired in 2022, shortly after the ruling took place<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2206918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/United_States_France_22336023295348-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/United_States_France_22336023295348-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2206917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2206917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2206917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2206917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2206917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}