Liberals and the legitimacy of the courts

 Becket Adams:

The Supreme Court this summer handed conservatives a victory nearly 50 years in the making when it overturned Roe v. Wade . Liberals, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan , are taking the defeat poorly — so poorly, in fact, that they’ve taken up questioning the legitimacy of the court itself.

This type of reaction is par for the course for liberals.

THE DEMOCRATS' UNDEMOCRATIC RHETORIC ABOUT 'SAVING DEMOCRACY'

“When courts become extensions of the political process,” Kagan said this month in a not-so-subtle reference to the court’s recent decisions, “when people see them as extensions of the political process, when people see them as trying just to impose personal preferences on a society irrespective of the law, that’s when there’s a problem — and that’s when there ought to be a problem.”

Kagan continued, wink-winking at the idea people may stop respecting the court’s legitimacy should the people suspect new rulings are the product of recent changes on the bench. Wherever would these people get such an idea? Perhaps from a disgruntled Supreme Court justice?

“If there’s a new member of a court and all of a sudden everything is up for grabs,” said Kagan, “all of a sudden very fundamental principles of law are being overthrown, are being replaced, then people have a right to say: What’s going on there? That doesn’t seem very lawlike.”

For constitutionalists and longtime pro-life activists, the court’s July ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization came as a shock. Many were convinced the court would simply go along with precedent rather than reverse course entirely. But then the court announced its decision, addressing at long last the constitutionality of the matter. The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, debunked the notion the Constitution guarantees a “right” to abortion (even left-leaning legal scholars admit Roe was an egregious misreading of the Constitution), handing the matter back to the states for voters and legislators to decide.
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It seems to never have occurred to liberals that Roe v. Wade was not a legitimate decision, but rather legislation from the bench.  I recall law professors questioning the reasoning of the court over 50 years ago.  Turning the matter back over to the legislators of the states was a reasonable response.