Abstract
Constitutional law is the lodestar for law teaching in the United States and is often referred to as the supreme law of the land. But how are this and related bodies of law to be taught? And what should law students learn when ideological shifts in the Supreme Court lead to radical shifts in Constitutional interpretation? This Essay uses the Dobbs case as the epitome of the Supreme Court’s retrenchment, a term that describes the Court’s egregious misuse of precedents and exemplifies the radical political realignments caused by the re-emergence of Donald Trump as the leader of an antidemocratic Republican Party. As is true for the Essays that follow, Montoya employs in this Essay several Critical Race Theory methodologies. Specifically, she interrogates her own positionality, uses examples from journalism and medicine to highlight the complexity of structural racism in reproductive health, elevates the subordination faced by marginalized pregnant persons seeking abortions, and highlights self-critique and counter-storytelling. The Essay ends by acknowledging the anxiety and malaise produced by the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, but Montoya finds solace and inspiration in the words of Toni Morrison, a Black writer and activist par excellence.
