The concept of originalism came to my attention with the Supreme Court decision that said that abortion is no longer a protected right in this country. That protection, founded in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade decision, was based on a reading of the 14th Amendment due process clause, which the majority believed “implied” a woman’s right to privacy and which, in turn, implied a right to abortion. Later, the Roe decision was struck down (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization), with the originalist reasoning that abortion was not protected at the time of the 14th Amendment’s ratification and, therefore, could not have been implied in the meaning of “due process.”
I find an interesting similarity between this and how Donald Trump protects his chosen utopia — the last decade of the 19th century — which, for him, seems to be the last time America was “great.” This was a time when wealthy, White, Christian men called the shots; tariffs were a big deal; and Black people, women and non-White immigrants “knew their place.” For Trump, it does not matter that this time was followed by amazing advances in science, technology and medicine. Since they did not occur during his chosen period, they might as well not exist. See the parallel with Roe?
This is my way of explaining how the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services makes any sense. He is a longtime vaccine skeptic, claims that vaccines cause autism, has canceled more than $500 million in mRNA vaccine research and does not believe in germ theory. He is the science killer whom Trump needs to help preserve the halo of his chosen utopia.
Frederick Longacre
Hockessin
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
