Season Three of the Coale Mind podcast begins in the wake of the recent Dobbs opinion, taking a look at state laws seeking to regulate travel, and communication, between states involving abortion.
Substantively, the episode focuses on the constitutional "privilege or immunity of citizenship" involving interstate travel, while also considering the "dormant commerce clause," the First Amendment, and the general due-process protection against vagueness.
Procedurally, the episode considers the different audiences for litigation about these laws, comparing the very conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit with the more liberal intermediate courts of appeal throughout the Texas state appellate system.
It concludes that Justice Alito's observation about returning abortion regulation to "the people's elected representatives" may be far more nuanced and unpredictable than it seemed when he wrote that sentence.