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15 Am. J.L. & Med. 204 (1989)
The Amici fo Appellants: The Role of Stare Decisis in the REconsideration of Roe v. Wade Role of Stare Decisis in the Reconsideration of Roe v. Wade

handle is hein.journals/amlmed15 and id is 214 raw text is: 204 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF LAW & MEDICINE VOL. XV NOS. 2-3 AMICI FOR APPELLANTS The Role of Stare Decisis in the Reconsideration of Roe v. Wadet Albert P. Blaustein* Edward R. Grant** Ann-Louise Lohr*** KevinJ. Todd**** I. INTRODUCTION Webster v. Reproductive Health Services I represented the first occasion in which a state, defending a challenge to its abortion laws, called for the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade.2 This opportunity presented a two-fold challenge to those engaged in seeking the reversal of Roe through the courts.3 First was to persuade the Court that Roe had been erroneously decided. Second was to overcome the defense of Roe premised upon stare decisis. Two briefs, representing separate groups of Members of Congress and Senators as amici, were filed on behalf of the appellants, each ad- dressed to one of these challenges. The excerpted brief which follows focused on the question of stare decisis from the following vantage points: the relative frequency of Supreme Court reversal of constitu- tional law precedent; the greater flexibility exhibited by the Court in applying the doctrine of stare decisis to constitutional decisions; the fail- t This is a summary of the Brief Amici Curiae of Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Hon. Alan B.Mollohan, Hon. John C. Danforth, and Other United States Senators and Members of Congress in Support of Appellants. The brief may be found at Congressional Information Service Microfiche, United States Supreme Court Records and Briefs, Iebster v. Reproductive Health Services, Card No. 16. * professor of Law, Rutgers University School of Law; A.B., 1941, University of Michigan; J.D., 1948, Columbia University Law School. ** A.B., Georgetown University;J.D., Northwestern University School of Law; Associate, Hinshaw, Culbertson, Moelmann, Hoban & Fuller, Chicago, Illinois. *** Staff Counsel, Americans United for Life, Legal Defense Fund, Chicago, Illinois; B.S., 1978, Illinois State University; J.D., 1981, John Marshall Law School. **** Staff Counsel, Americans United for Life, Legal Defense Fund, Chicago, Illinois; B.A., 1985, Cedarville College; J.D., 1988, University of Minnesota Law School. ' 109 S. Ct. 3040 (1989). 2410 U.S. 113 (19.73). See generallv ABORTION AND THE CONSTITUTION: REVERSING ROE v. WADE THROUGH THE COURTS (D. Horan, E. Grant & P. Cunningham, eds. 1987).

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