June 24, 2022

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Re: The Catholic Bar Association Congratulates the Supreme Court on Its Dobbs Decision

   With its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the United States Supreme Court has overturned its illegitimate fifty-year-old opinion, Roe v. Wade. In doing so, the Court has moved the American legal system back toward being a system of law and not of men.

   Roe was illegitimate because it had no basis in law. It was the creation of a majority of the Justices who had a pro-abortion policy objective. As one “pro-choice” Yale Law School professor put it, Roe “…is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be.” Roe was an attempt to impose a judicial solution for a perceived social and political problem by the invention of a right to abortion that had no support in the Constitution or in American law. The country is well-rid of it. Thus, as conscientious lawyers, we applaud the Dobbs decision as the long-awaited overturning of a dreadful legal decision.

   Moreover, as Catholics, we applaud the effect the decision will have in reducing the frequency of elective abortions in the United States. “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law….” ¶2271 Catechism of the Catholic Church.

   The Roe decision authorized the establishment of one of the most permissive abortion regimes in the world under which even a human being capable of life outside of his mother’s womb could be killed legally. The issue is now returned to the political process, where it should have been all along.

   Just as the issuance of the Roe decision fifty years ago represented an assault on our legal system, so too does the “leaking” of a draft of the Dobbs decision months before the decision was officially issued by the Court. A probable purpose for the leak was to bring public pressure to bear on enough Justices to change the outcome of the case. This purpose has been borne out in the loud, illegal demonstrations outside of the homes of Justices who appeared to favor overturning Roe. They and their families have been made to feel unsafe in their own homes. When the Roe majority abandoned the judicial function for a legislative one, abortion supporters learned that ignoring the law is acceptable to achieve desired political ends.

   The leaking of the draft opinion was deplorable and subversive of the judicial process, as are the demonstrations at the homes of Justices of the Supreme Court, and should be condemned by people of good will.

   The high court should be commended for finally righting a terrible moral and historical wrong. An untold number of innocent human lives will be spared as a result. Laws protecting innocent human life should be passed and enforced. And we call upon those in authority to enforce laws already on the books to protect judges and juries against violence.

   The Catholic Bar Association is a national community of legal professionals that educates, organizes and inspires its members faithfully to uphold and bear witness to the Catholic Faith in the study and practice of the law.

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Media Contact:
Peter Wickersham

Email: info _at_ catholicbar.org

More attention to CLE

Attorneys are busy and most need Continuing Legal Education. We are pleased to report that, for the 2021 CBA Conference, we applied to and received CLE credit in 8 states: Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Documentation was also provided to attorneys to assist their reporting in 15 other states. 

Did you ever attend a CLE seminar and wish you could watch your favorite speakers again? 

Ever hear from friends or colleagues that a seminar you missed was excellent and regret not attending?  Well, now’s your chance to re-visit the CBA 2021 Conference or to see what you missed!

The best part is that if you’re a Member of the CBA, access to the video sessions is absolutely FREE!  To see the precise line-up of speakers and when the presentations occurred, check out our Catalog of Speaker Presentations.  

When you wish to view the presentations, simply log into the CBA’s Homepage, go to “Resources,” navigate to “Storefront,” and follow the prompts from there.

If you are not yet a Member of the CBA, now is a great time TO JOIN!

You can see first-hand:

• Harvard law professor Adrian Vermeule deliver the annual Charles Rice Lecture, in which he advocated Common Good Constitutionalism;
• John Czarnetzky, Dean of the Ave Maria School of Law, deliver the annual St. Thomas More Lecture, proposing a model for the American corporation that gives full expression to Catholic Social Theory;
• The Most Reverend Felipe J. Estévez, Bishop of St. Augustine and a native of Cuba, deliver the annual St. John Fisher Lecture on the topic “Cuba – Is There a Future of Hope?”;
• Past CBA President George Ahrend discuss current public accommodation and compelling state interest jurisprudence in light of the final settlement in the Ninth Circuit’s Arlene’s Flowers case;
• Ole Miss professor Ron Rychlak trace the consistencies between Catholic Political Thought and the principles of the American Founding;
• William Haun of Becket Law reiterate the vital importance of the freedoms of association and assembly;
• Kate Anderson of Alliance Defending Freedom plead for the right of parents to lead and direct the education of their children;
• Population Research Institute President Steven Mosher place current Chinese Communist Party domestic and international policy within the context of Chinese history, tradition, and philosophy; 
• Author and litigator Chris Ferrara explore the limitations of Originalism in the context of COVID restrictions on freedom of worship; and
• Noted litigator Andy Schlafly report on the fight for medical autonomy in the midst of the COVID pandemic; and
• Oxford professor Ryan Meade remind Catholic lawyers of their calling as attorneys, their ability to promote the common good, and the necessity of pursuing the dictates of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance in their practice of the law.