On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Roe v. Wade that women have a federal right to an abortion. In the years that followed, attacks on the court—and abortion rights—served as key party-building tools for Republicans as they put together the conservative electoral coalition that came to dominate American politics.

Roe v. Wade helped conservatives build that coalition, and the Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson overturning Roe presents Democrats with the same opportunity to pull at its seam. But even if Democrats can successfully maneuver to take political advantage of Dobbs as Republicans did of Roe, the Supreme Court remains a unique problem.

“Most of the time through the court’s history the process of judicial selection has kept the court within the main lines of public opinion and political support, but that process seems to have broken down,” says Thomas Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics. 

Read more in the HuffPost article, "Democrats Are Using An Old Playbook To Attack The Supreme Court And Fracture The Conservative Coalition."