Remember the Legislature

This sophomoric exchange between Al Franken and Sonia Sotomayor, noted by Jillian below, about whether the words "birth control" and "privacy" are in the Constitution is profoundly misleading.

The activist jurisprudes want to convince people that unless a bunch of black-robed oligarchs declare a certain right or privilege to exist in the emanation of the penumbra of the Constitution, it won't. Thus, they insinuate that unless judges "find" a "right" to one thing or another in the Constitution, the American people will be denuded of their "privacy" rights or whatever else.

How ridiculous. Please, everyone, let's remember the legislature -- that is, the people who are actually elected to make the kinds of policy decisions that Judge Sotomayor apparently can't wait to get her hands on.

Is there anyone out there who seriously thinks, even if Roe v. Wade were struck down tomorrow, that states like California and Vermont wouldn't have abortion rights? Or that birth control would suddenly become unavailable across the United States? Please.

The "rights" would still exist. It's just that they'd be secured through an act of the people's elected representatives, not through the fiat of a bunch of unaccountable, life-tenured judges reading new meanings into old texts.