Fred Thompson on Roe

Bench Memos carried this little item on comments Fred Thompson made about the Court and activism, in the middle of a Hoover Institute interview.

Which Supreme Court decision since your law degree in 1967 has done the greatest disservice to the nation?  “I suppose that, overall, I’d have to say Roe versus Wade.”

Do you agree with Giuliani that it’s okay to appoint justices who would go either way on Roe?  “No.  Roe was fabricated out of whole cloth….  I think it represents a bigger problem with the federal judiciary and that is that there are too many people who get up and decide one day that they want to change social policy in this country…  it was not only bad law but bad medicine… thwarting the notion of federalism.” 

So it’s your position that Roe should be overturned and abortion policy returned to the states?  “Yes.”

Here’s a reminder of what legal scholars…..actually, abortion supporters…..have said about Roe.