January 22 remains a day worth remembering. On this day in 1973, the Supreme Court promulgated its profoundly wrong decision in Roe v. Wade. At Mirror of Justice, Rick Garnett has some sober but hopeful reflections on Roe at 40.
Another date worth recalling is June 29. On that day in 1992, the Supreme Court issued Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. I share the view–most forcefully expressed by Michael Stokes Paulsen–that Casey is the worst constitutional decision of all time. (For Paulsen’s explanation, see Michael Stokes Paulsen, The Worst Constitutional Decision of All Time, 78 Notre Dame L. Rev. 995 (2002); summarized more recently in two columns at Public Discourse, available here and here.)
One axiom of some academic theories of constitutional law in recent decades has been that, for a theory to be right, it cannot yield the result that Brown v. Board of Education is wrong. I hope for the broad acceptance of a different axiom: Any theory of constitutional law is wrong if it yields the result that Casey is right.
