Remnant Recap
Dobbs explained: Justice Barrett discussed the reasoning behind the Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe, saying Roe was based on flawed legal theory.
Free speech warning: Barrett warned that free speech is being restricted in the United Kingdom, where contrary opinions can be criminalized.
First Amendment praise: She emphasized that strong First Amendment protections in the U.S. prevent government censorship of unpopular views.
Listen up America because our free speech is worth defending and one of the nation’s toughest legal minds just reminded all of us why it matters. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett talked about the Court’s Dobbs decision and then dropped a red pill warning about what free speech looks like across the pond. She pointed out that in the United Kingdom, officials are already tolerating less than mainstream opinions and, in some cases, criminalizing them because they do not have the rock-solid protections of the U.S. First Amendment. Barrett’s message is simple and powerful. America must never let its free speech slip away the way Europe has.
Christian Post reports:
Barrett, who clerked for Scalia in the late 1990s, echoed Scalia's textual originalism when she touched on why she voted as she did in the court's 2022 ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wadeand returned abortion law to the states.
She argued Roe v. Wade was based on a faulty understanding of the U.S. Constitution that attempted to read meaning into the text that wasn't there.
"The problem with Roe was … there's nothing in the Constitution, certainly, that speaks to abortion, that speaks to medical procedures," she said.
"The best defense of Roe — the commonly thought defense of Roe — was that it was grounded in the word 'liberty,' in the due process clause — that we protect life, liberty and property, [and] it can't be taken away without due process of law," she said.
Barrett also raised the alarm regarding the state of free speech in the U.K., which she noted does not have the protections of the First Amendment.
"Think about what's happening with respect to free speech rights in the U.K.," she said. "Contrary opinions or opinions that are not in the mainstream are not being tolerated, and they're even being criminalized. Because of the First Amendment, that can't happen here."
Barrett’s comments are a wake-up call. If Americans ever forget the value of the First Amendment, all we need to do is look to nations like the U.K. where speech limits are already creeping in. We should be grateful for the freedoms we still enjoy and fight like hell to keep them.
Photo credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Bishop Robert Barron
