If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, will other ‘legal dominoes’ begin to fall?

Good morning, readers:

The nation anticipates with bated breath the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the future of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision protecting the constitutional right to abortion. The decision will come any day now.

A draft opinion leaked to Politico a few weeks ago suggests a 5-4 majority will nullify Roe and leave laws on reproductive rights to the states. Several states, including Tennessee, have trigger laws that would effectively outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned.

Critics of the draft ruling worry that Roe may just be a start to overturning other controversial decisions on issues such as contraception access, interracial marriage and same-sex unions.

Demonstrators take a moment of silence in respect for lives lost to unsafe abortions during a protest in response to the draft SCOTUS decision on Roe V. Wade at Walk of Fame Park in Nashville , Tenn., Sunday, May 8, 2022. Across the country, protests have taken place in response to the potential overturning of Roe V. Wade.

Constitutional expert John Vile, a professor of political science and dean at Middle Tennessee State University, recently wrote a guest opinion column on how the Supreme Court’s decision could affect other precedents.

He reminds readers that when the Supreme Court voted to end segregation with the Brown v. Board of Education decision of the 1950s, the court “proceeded to issue numerous pathbreaking decisions related to state legislative apportionment and the rights of criminal defendants.”

So, while Justice Samuel Alito, who penned the draft decision, wrote “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion,” Vile argues that abortion opponents may consider this “just the first of many legal dominoes to fall.”

Scroll to read more commentary in this week’s newsletter: 

Story continues

The third of six USA TODAY Network Tennessee gubernatorial and congressional primary forum is at University of Tennessee Martin today at 7 p.m. CDT/8 p.m. EDT. If you can’t make it, watch it live at this link.

Find the full schedule of forums here and sign up for tickets. Admission is free, but registration is required.

Thank you!

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network – Tennessee. Email him at dplazas@tennessean.com, call him at (615) 259-8063 or tweet to him at @davidplazas. Subscribe to a USA TODAY Network – Tennessee publication. 

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: SCOTUS: Will other ‘legal dominoes’ fall if Roe v. Wade is overturned?