ConfirmThem

By Paul Zummo Posted in SCOTUS — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I'm throwing this one out there for my more legally trained co-bloggers. Norma McCorvey, the woman known to us all as "Jane Roe," is pretitioning the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

Norma McCorvey, whose protest of Texas' abortion ban led to the 1973 ruling, contends in a petition received at the court Tuesday that the case should be heard again in light of evidence that the procedure may harm women.

"Now we know so much more, and I plead with the court to listen for witnesses and re-evaluate Roe v. Wade," said McCorvey, who says she now regrets her role in the case.

The politically charged issue comes before the court as both sides gird for a possible bitter nomination fight over Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's replacement should the ailing justice retire this term. At least three justices, including Rehnquist, have said Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned.

Two lower courts last year threw out McCorvey's request to have the ruling reconsidered.

But in a strongly worded concurrence, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge Edith H. Jones criticized the abortion ruling and said new medical evidence may well show undue harm to a mother and her fetus.

As little as I know about the technicalities of the law, I do know that that the question of standing immediately comes to mind. Even clearing that hurdle, it is extremely doubtful that Court will seek to revisit this issue in the near future.

So my question that I would propose to all of you is, even assuming that we are successful in getting to the bench those individuals that we all here are fighting for, can we realistically expect Roe to be revisited at any point in the near future? Or, more aptly, under what consideration will the Court take a case that will address the issue of Roe? The current case does not seem a likely foil, so what type of case or issue do you believe will cause four Supreme Court justices to reopen the pandora's box of abortion?