Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
Page Number: 128.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

5 

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring 

amendments.  See generally Amdt. 9; Amdt. 10; Art. I, §8; 
Art.  V;  J.  Sutton,  51  Imperfect  Solutions:  States  and  the 
Making  of  American  Constitutional  Law  7−21,  203−216 
(2018);  A.  Amar,  America’s  Constitution:  A  Biography 
285−291, 315−347 (2005).

The Constitution does not grant the nine unelected Mem-
bers  of  this  Court  the  unilateral  authority  to  rewrite  the 
Constitution to create new rights and liberties based on our 
own  moral  or  policy  views.    As  Justice  Rehnquist  stated,
this Court has not “been granted a roving commission, ei-
ther by the Founding Fathers or by the framers of the Four-
teenth  Amendment,  to  strike  down  laws  that  are  based 
upon  notions  of  policy  or  morality  suddenly  found  unac-
ceptable by a majority of this Court.”  Furman v. Georgia, 
408 U. S. 238, 467 (1972) (dissenting opinion); see Washing-
ton v. Glucksberg, 521 U. S. 702, 720–721 (1997); Cruzan v. 
Director, Mo. Dept. of Health, 497 U. S. 261, 292–293 (1990) 
(Scalia, J., concurring).

This Court therefore does not possess the authority either
to declare a constitutional right to abortion or to declare a 
constitutional prohibition of abortion.  See Casey, 505 U. S., 
at 953 (Rehnquist, C. J., concurring in judgment in part and 
dissenting in part); id., at 980 (opinion of Scalia, J.); Roe v. 
Wade, 410 U. S. 113, 177 (1973) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting); 
Doe v. Bolton, 410 U. S. 179, 222 (1973) (White, J., dissent-
ing).

In sum, the Constitution is neutral on the issue of abor-
tion and allows the people and their elected representatives 
to address the issue through the democratic process.  In my
respectful view, the Court in Roe therefore erred by taking 
sides on the issue of abortion. 

II 
The more difficult question in this case is stare decisis— 

that is, whether to overrule the Roe decision. 

The  principle  of  stare  decisis  requires  respect  for  the