Categories
Abortion Constitutionality

Stephen Gilles on Dobbs

Here is a link to an amicus brief filed by Professor Stephen Gilles. Gilles argues that the Court ought to overrule Roe and Casey. Gilles notes that this outcome would be clear under the Glucksberg Court’s approach to identifying fundamental rights. Glucksberg emphasized  “history and tradition” and under such an approach there is no way to find a fundamental right to abortion. But, Gilles argues, the same result (no fundamental right to abortion) should apply under the approach the Court used in Obergefell, the Court’s same-sex marriage decision. The Obergefell approach emphasized “reasoned judgment.”

In his brief, Gilles explains that Roe and Casey  are egregiously wrong by the standards of “reasoned judgment” described and applied in Obergefell. He concludes that the right to elective abortion has no foundation in either of the tests the Court has used to determine whether an asserted right is fundamental.

Richard Myers

Richard S. Myers, the Vice-President of UFL, is Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law, where he teaches Antitrust, Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, and Religious Freedom. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College and earned his law degree at Notre Dame, where he won the law school's highest academic prize. He began his legal career by clerking for Judge John F. Kilkenny of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Professor Myers also worked for Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C. He taught at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law before joining the Ave Maria faculty. He is a co-editor of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition: Contemporary Perspectives (Catholic University of American Press, 2004) and a co-editor of Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Scarecrow Press, 2007). He has also published extensively on constitutional law in law reviews and also testified before Congressional and state legislative hearings on life issues. Married to Mollie Murphy, who is also on the faculty at Ave Maria School of Law, they are the proud parents of six children - Michael, Patrick, Clare, Kathleen, Matthew, and Andrew. http://www.avemarialaw.edu/index.cfm?event=faculty.bio&pid=11705E7D4E0111010366