Conservatives love judicial activism – as long as the law is moved in their favor | Jill Filipovic

Brazen judicial overreach to curb abortion access proves the right wing will abandon their principles to get their way

Before the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last June, the conservative line on the American judiciary was fairly consistent: judges should be careful interpreters of the rules, not activists; legislatures should decide policy, while courts should simply enforce the law.

That was, of course, never true - conservatives have always been thrilled with judicial activists, as long as those activists moved the law to the right. But our post-Roe era has showed just how bankrupt conservative claims to judicial continence are. And perhaps no case - other than Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health, which overturned Roe - has revealed this rank hypocrisy as much as the decision by a rogue Texas judge to ban mifepristone nationwide.

Jill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness