“Contemplation of Justice” statue outside the Supreme Court, which is what the Court chooses to feature on its home page

The Supreme Court Just Did An Excellent Job Defunding The Police

Roe and handgun ruling do a better job of that than any progressive politician ever could’ve. Here’s why:

Whatever you think about the court’s twin decisions on abortion and gun carry, one thing’s clear: both those decisions will put huge, new burdens on police departments, which can only lead to one of two outcomes:

• Minor offenses (including many drug offenses) will not be investigated and/or prosecuted as aggressively, because local law enforcement will be too tied up trying to enforce tons and tons of very-hard-to-enforce and complex new anti-abortion laws, which don’t only mean closing abortion clinics, and making sure no one is doing them clandestinely, but also potentially stopping people from leaving certain states or even cities or counties, and also at the very least going through people’s mail. (Which the federal government may not allow, but of course the Supreme Court can review that, too.)

— Or —

• State legislatures use all the new laws as a pretense for adding all kinds of new cops with all kinds of power, and the country moves inexorably in the direction of becoming a police state.

Which is more likely? Answer that for yourself. But the idea that Justice Kavanaugh put across in his concurring opinion (p. 124~ in the link that follows here) that the court’s Roe decision somehow simplifies things by actually being “neutral” on abortion by overturning Roe, is either naive or mendacious, and also ridiculous.

Of course, states that ban abortions outright will have major expenses coming their way in terms of taking care of the many more babies that will now be born, and the women who will now be forced to carry them against their will.

These aren’t just medical risks and expenses, but costs associated with jobs and housing and transportation and childcare and so many other things. Think states are going to start pouring money into all of that to compensate for the increased need? No way. No need to. Let’s not forget, these are the same states that continually, actively try to cut back on things like food stamps and school lunches.