Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 7 defended the high court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the regulation of abortion to the states.
The justice’s comments came during an interview on “CBS News Sunday Morning” about her new book, “Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.” It was Barrett’s first television interview since she joined the court in 2020, after being nominated by President Donald Trump during his first term. The book is scheduled to be published on Sept. 9.
Barrett was referring to the court’s 5–4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Barrett was part of the majority voting to strike down Roe v. Wade (1973).
Host Norah O’Donnell asked what impact the ruling has had on related issues such as the morning-after pill, intrauterine devices, in vitro fertilization, and medication used for miscarriage management.
“Dobbs did not render abortion illegal,” the justice said.
“Dobbs did not say anything about whether abortion is immoral. Dobbs said that these are questions that are left to the states. All of these kinds of questions, decisions that you mentioned that require medical judgments, are not ones that the Constitution commits to the court … to decide how far into pregnancy the right of abortion might extend.”
Under Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court was involved in “drawing a lot of those lines,” but Dobbs concluded that “those calls are properly left to the democratic process, and the states have been working those out,” Barrett said.
The justice was asked about the court’s various rulings on the emergency docket that have temporarily allowed Trump to implement policies on immigration and fire government employees.
“It’s not our job to survey and decide whether … the current occupant of an office in this particular moment is … to form a political view,” she said.
“That’s the job of journalists. That’s the job of other politicians, or that’s the job of the people, but our job is to decide these legal questions.”
Barrett said she expects that the Supreme Court will agree to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down most of the administration’s tariffs.
On Sept. 3, the federal government asked the high court to expedite its appeal of an Aug. 29 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That court determined that the president exceeded his authority when he imposed a sweeping package of tariffs in April under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
“That one actually is pending in the courts and we may well—dare I say, likely—will see that case,” the justice said.
When asked if she believes that the court has “shifted to the right,” Barrett said it wasn’t for her to say.
“I think shifting to the right or shifting to the left, I think those are other people’s labels, and that’s other people’s game. I don’t think of it that way. I just decide the cases as they come. I’ve been criticized by both the right and the left,” the justice said.
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