Author: TheConversation

By Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di Torino Justice Samuel Alito appears to be spellbound by the 19th century. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the decision Alito wrote overruling 50 years of constitutional protection for women’s right to get an abortion, he deploys arguments that are based on several historical precedents. He uses the phrase “history and tradition” regularly. But for Alito, the 19th century looks like the true golden age: “In 1803, the British Parliament made abortion a crime at all stages of pregnancy and authorized the imposition of severe punishment.” He goes on...

By Kimala Price, Professor of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University In a mere few days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, at least seven states banned abortion. And even though judges blocked the enforcement of “trigger” abortion bans in three states, more bans in other states are expected in the coming weeks. It is believed that 26 states are likely to ban abortions. Abortion will likely remain legal in 20 states – and the District of Columbia – with 14 of these states having recently enacted...

By Craig Mark, Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Kyoritsu Women’s University Japan is reeling from the assassination of its longest-serving former prime minister, Shinzo Abe. He was campaigning for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for the Upper House elections due on Sunday, in the city of Nara in western Japan, when he was shot from behind with an apparently home-made sawn-off shotgun. The alleged assailant, reportedly a 42-year old local man, was arrested at the scene. There is no known motive at this time, but there are reports the suspect is a former member of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense...

By Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, UMass Lowell With its decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol v. Bruen on June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court has announced that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right. The core argument of the decision is that gun rights are to be treated the same as other hallowed rights like the freedom of speech or freedom of religion recognized in the First Amendment. For most of the history of the court, Second Amendment rights have been seen as distinct, more dangerous and thus more open to regulation. Now,...

By Robert Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the Political Science Department, State University of New York College at Cortland The nationwide call for stronger gun laws in the aftermath of mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde and the over 200 other places where such tragedies took place so far in 2022 was understandable. It was also predictable. Whether efforts to pass new federal or state laws to raise the minimum age for buying semiautomatic rifles, expand background checks and similar measures succeed or fail this time, they will follow a pattern in American politics that traces back more than...

By Ernesto Castañeda, Associate Professor of Sociology, American University Ernesto Castañeda is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at American University and the Director of the Immigration Lab. Castañeda explains why immigration is an important force counteracting population decline in the U.S. and why that matters to the economy and America’s global power. I direct the Immigration Lab where we conduct research around migration – in all its aspects. For example, emigration – people leaving their countries of origin; or internal migration – people moving within a country. There are millions of people living in a different...