English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

My mother and I were discussing this, we are against the procedure. We were wondering though, if it was legal in certain states, does the Supreme Courts ruling over ride that and make it illegal?

2007-04-27 16:40:52 · 6 answers · asked by mememe 4 in Politics & Government Law & Ethics

6 answers

The Supreme Court is the supreme law of the land. Their rulings override any state laws. If state law was in conflict with a Supreme Court ruling, they would have to amend their laws to comply.

2007-04-27 16:53:54 · answer #1 · answered by Lisa S 3 · 1 1

To be absolutely correct, no.

The USSC ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart was about a specific Federal Law, which they upheld.

That federal law would override the state law, but there's a big difference between that and saying the USSC's ruling overrides the state law.

And once again, the USSC misses the opportunity to get it right. All arguments against abortion must be founded on the belief that the fetus is a "person". There's really no way to oppose it on any other basis. The federal government doesn't have Constitutional authority to decide that, states do. What they should have done is thrown the law out as not being something the Congress can determine. Of course, to do so would have also thrown out Roe v. Wade and all of its followup cases, which would suit me fine since it isn't a federal question to begin with.

2007-04-27 16:54:21 · answer #2 · answered by open4one 7 · 1 0

The first two respondents are wrong. The Supreme Court rulings apply to specific cases *only*. Lower courts use those rulings to make similar rulings in other cases.

Edit: I don't know who gave me the thumbs-down, but clearly they don't understand how our/my government works. The Supreme Court is not the so-called law of the land. The SC makes very specific rulings on very specific cases - only. The SC does not strike down or uphold all laws related to a particular cause. As I said, the lower courts use the SC's rulings to make their own, often compliant, rulings. Note to thumb-downers: if you don't know what you're talking about, please feel free to merely lurk.

2007-04-27 16:51:55 · answer #3 · answered by Sgt Pepper 5 · 0 2

Yes, the SC ruling invalidates all state laws legalizing the procedure. This happens because of our federalist system of law, wherein municipal law is trumped by the county, then state, then federal.

2007-04-27 16:45:06 · answer #4 · answered by azrael505 3 · 2 1

unfortunately, there is no consideration's for the mother's health (though it is implied). due to this oversight some people are calling the ruling a huge step backwards in womens rights. although i am against late term abortion, the mother has the right to protect her own life.

2007-04-27 16:49:40 · answer #5 · answered by David T 1 · 0 2

Yes, you are correct.

2007-04-27 16:43:46 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1 1

fedest.com, questions and answers