Issues@Hand

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July 2020 – In an April 20 U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision involving a Louisiana case unrelated to abortion, Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered a potential blow to the Roe v. Wade decision that established the precedent for legalized abortion in 1973.

The recent Ramos v. Louisiana case involved a man who had been convicted on a less-than-unanimous jury decision. The State of Louisiana argued based on the 1972 Apodaca v. Oregon case, which held that state courts (unlike federal courts) may convict a defendant by a less-than-unanimous verdict in a felony criminal case.

SCOTUS, however, cited the Sixth Amendment and ruled in favor of Ramos.

The court overturned the Apodaca ruling, arguing against stare decisis as a doctrine that Supreme Court opinions create binding precedent requiring all future courts to follow suit. Instead, Gorsuch called the Apodaca decision “admittedly mistaken.”

“The monster takeaway is that Gorsuch’s majority opinion has gutted Roe v. Wade,” said Bryan Fischer, host of AFR’s Focal Point. “The crying need is to get another abortion case to the Supreme Court and pray [to] God that the Court will once and for all obliterate that rotten-to-the-core opinion for time and eternity.”

afa.net, 4/22/20