Why Should Anybody Take The Supreme Court Seriously At This Point?

I have one question regarding the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade yesterday: Why should anybody care what this Supreme Court has to say? The current Supreme Court just admitted that it has no interest in what previous Supreme Courts have ruled, and Clarence Thomas wrote in his own separate opinion that the court should revisit Obergefell v. Hodges— which was decided while Thomas was on the court. If the Supreme Court has no interest in keeping a consistent opinion, why should anyone take it seriously as a political institution?

Back in December, Justice Sotomayor warned that the end to Roe v. Wade would lead to the end of many other Supreme Court rulings on a variety of issues. Personally, I think saying that the Supreme Court will unravel all other civil rights — especially whichever ones most effect you personally — is a tad paranoid and frames the end to abortion rights as a warning shot as opposed to a bad thing by itself. Even with Thomas criticizing the previous rulings on both birth control and same-sex marriage, it is worth remembering that Thomas is famous for giving incredibly right-wing opinions that nobody else on the court agrees with. This also implies that the court will hear a case in the future about these issues — which might happen, but we have no reason to think its certain. Plus, even assuming that Thomas…