JOSH BLACKMAN: Dobbs Is Making Our Democracy Work. “The absence of Roe is requiring elected representatives to cast difficult votes on abortion. . . . Now, the rubber meets the road. Some states may start with very strict bans that, over time, prove too draconian, and will be revised. With the zero-sum game of Roe over, there will be more space to negotiate and compromise. Fittingly, states may wind up somewhere around the fifteen-week line Mississippi crafted, and Chief Justice Roberts approved.” Which is still more liberal than most European laws.

I disagree that there’s a tension betweeen Dobbs and Bruen, though. The Constitution explicitly expresses a view on gun rights; it does no such thing regarding abortion. And that’s because there are important structural/political aspects to whether the populace is be armed, considerations that do not enter into issues regarding abortion. That the Supreme Court noticed such a thing should not be a huge surprise, nor is it evidence of any particular contradiction.