Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed to worry that if the Court reverses Roe v. Wade, people might believe that constitutional interpretation is often a political act and lose reverence for the Supreme Court.

Constitutional interpretation often is a political act, especially in deeply consequential cases, and the Supreme Court deserves no more “reverence” than the other branches of government. It is a purely political entity.

There is no one “true” or “correct” interpretation of the Constitution, even if we accept the conservatives’ idea that we must interpret it the way the people ultimately responsible for its creation and establishment as the fundamental “Law of the Land” interpreted it. Thousands of people were ultimately responsible — the members of the Constitutional Convention, the members of Congress who voted for it, and the citizens of the states who voted for its ratification (not to mention those who voted for the amendments that have altered it). They did not all have the same understanding and intentions.

On deeply consequential issues, justices cannot help but interpret the Constitution according to their beliefs, values, and moral principles. For example, justices before the Civil War decided that Blacks are not people with constitutional rights, while some justices in the 20th century decided that corporations are people with the same constitutional rights as living human beings. Similar things may be said about justices’ decisions about the scope and limits of gun rights.

Conservative justices say that Roe v. Wade was decided “wrongly.” Rubbish. They think this simply because their beliefs, values and moral principles differ from those of the justices who support Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court is and always has been a “political” body. Currently, it is an arm of the Republican Party. (And Republicans cheated to gain control of the Court.) Those who disagree with the beliefs, values and moral principles of the conservative majority are fully justified in fighting to wrest control of the Supreme Court from the Republican Party.

Emmett Barcalow

Amherst