1/ On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a decision lacking any warrant in the text, logic, structure, or original understanding of the Constitution, struck down all state laws providing unborn children with meaningful protection against lethal assault.

2/ Roe v. Wade was outrageous and tragic for two reasons. First, it is profoundly unjust to exclude from the law's basic protections any class of human beings, thus rendering members of the disfavored class vulnerable to lawful violent attack.

3/ Second, the Court's action in Roe v. Wade constituted an unconstitutional--indeed, deeply anti-constitutional--usurpation by the judicial branch of authority vested by the Constitution in the people's elected representatives.

4/ Even those who do not agree that the unborn have a basic human right to the law's fundamental protections ought to be able to see the decision's fatal flaws as a putative interpretation of the Constitution--and, indeed, many do.

5/ We now see (as should have been foreseen) that there is a third tragic consequence of Roe. It has corrupted our entire process of judicial nominations and confirmations.

6/ The corruption began in 1987 with the campaign of defamation and vilification against Robert Bork--which was, let us not deceive ourselves, all about abortion and the future of Roe v. Wade--and it has never stopped.

7/ Roe v. Wade has distorted our politics and public life in other ways, too. Unsavory politicians of both parties who ought not to be supported by anybody, are supported by people who back them only or mainly because they pledge to work to protect--or to overturn--Roe v. Wade.

8/ Even folks who favor a fairly permissive regime of abortion law, unless they are fanatics, can see that the best thing that could happen would be for Roe to go and for the policy it established on abortion to be replaced by policies with some measure of democratic legitimacy.

9/ In most places, and probably in the country as a whole, the law would not provide protections for unborn babies nearly as strong as I would favor; but in most places, and probably in the country as a whole, it would not authorize unlimited abortion as our current law does.

10/ And our judicial selection process and other aspects of our politics would no longer be corrupted as they are now by a constitutionally indefensible act of what Justice Byron White described as "raw judicial power." Things wouldn't be perfect. But they would be better.