Scalia: This court unlikely to overturn Roe v. Wade
- Mar 15, 2006
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said recently he doubts the current Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade and doesn’t know if it ever will, thereby dampening the hopes of some that South Dakota’s new ban on abortion would be the vehicle for a reversal of the 1973 opinion.
Speaking to a gathering of Swiss professors and students March 8, Scalia said when asked if the highly criticized ruling would be reversed by the high court, “I have no idea. I have no idea whether it will be.
“[T]here are still five justices on the court who voted in favor of Roe v. Wade,” Scalia told a group at the University of Freiburg. “So, if I had to guess, I would say, ‘Not yet—maybe not [ever]—but certainly not yet.’ The American dream is still to come.”
Though Scalia said he did not have an official opinion on abortion, he said a right to the procedure “is not contained in the Constitution of the United States.”
Scalia’s remarks were reported by LifeNews.com, which based its article on a French Audio-Visual Bureau news report.
Only two justices—Scalia and Clarence Thomas—have expressed opposition to Roe since joining the high court. Two new members—Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito—have yet to rule on Roe’s constitutionality. Associate Justices John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer have demonstrated support for Roe while on the court.