Did Roe v. Wade Pass the Arbitrary and Capricious Test

Justice Blackmun sat on 3,653 cases during his twenty-four terms on the Supreme Court, yet he will surely be best remembered for his role in one case, Roe v. Wade. Seldom has a judicial decision been more controversial. True, many opinions are harshly criticized. But the criticisms of Roe were distinctive.

According to critics, Roe was not merely bad law, in some sense it was not law at all. One particularly outspoken critic recently calls Roe "perhaps the most indefensible 'constitutional' decision ever reached by this Court to date' as well as "manifestly and atrociously contrary to the Constitution."