Despite This Sheriff Doing A Great Thing, I'm So Done With Discretion

Last Son, Red Sands, 2814, Olympus, Polymer, Detective, Constitutional Sheriff?

Supreme Court Evening Staci Zaretsky

(Photo by Staci Zaretsky)

Now that the Six Christians Of The United States (SCOTUS) nixed Roe and Casey, I mean… returned the question of abortion to the states, many are scrambling to ensure that women and people with uteruses still have access to the basic medical treatment that is abortion. The expected parties are doing the expected actions — The People are trying to stack the Court or impose term limits as some sort of check and balance to lifetime appointment, Biden is having none of it, Democrats are proving that the only thing they did to prepare for the fallout is prepare to beg for money, the list goes on.

Thankfully, and I do say this cautiously, some people are actually doing something about the Dobbs ruling.

A Texas sheriff, whose beat largely includes the city of San Antonio, has declared he would not be pursuing those in his jurisdiction who choose to get an abortion after the supreme court scrapping of federal abortion rights.

…Bexar county sheriff Javier Salazar wrote of his “two beautiful and intelligent” daughters, whom he said have a right to choose what to do with their own bodies.

“As their Dad, I have no control over their adult bodies. As their sheriff, it is absolutely none of my business. I will not persecute Texas women or anyone else pursuing those same rights,” Salazar stated.

He added: “Shame on the supreme court and the bureaucrats in Washington DC and Austin who are attempting to impose their own supposed morals on others. They will not use my badge or the color of my office to do so. My job is chasing predators, rapists, and human traffickers, not someone exercising a right.”

This is one of those situations where the Devil is in the nuance. Well, the Devil is actually in a Court passing a ruling that led to the medical community at large saying this sets a horrible precedent for addressing the health needs of their patients, but you get my drift. Even if I like the outcome, I’d be blind or delusional to not see this for what it is — Constitutional Sheriffing. This sheriff is cool and I appreciate what he’s doing, but if Batman has taught us anything, it has to be that threats to order don’t become safe just because they are effective or have done good in the past. What about the other sheriffs? What about if a sheriff gets power drunk or gets steamrolled by PragerU? Something as basic as who gets healthcare, who loses their medical licenses, and who goes to jail over trying to make Hippocrates proud shouldn’t be left up to some dude — it should be determined by the rule of law.

I hope that this Court adopts something that, admittedly, is not a deeply rooted tradition in the country’s history. I hope their jurisprudence ceases to normalize treating The People as standing reserves and actually allows for the liberty The Founders™ kept yelling about.

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Texas Sheriff Says He ‘Will Not Persecute’ Those Seeking An Abortion [The Guardian]

Earlier: Cafeteria… I Mean, Constitutional Sheriffs Promise To Pick And Choose When Laws Matter


Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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