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Reporters are all over Alito's Casey dissent, where he argued for upholding a law requiring a woman to consult her husband before seeking an abortion. They're not mentioning Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey v. Farmer, in which Alito voted to overturn New Jersey's partial birth abortion ban; he argued in his concurrence that the lower court was bound by the Supreme Court's decision in Stenberg v. Carhart (though he did not endorse the reasoning of Stenberg). Nor are they mentioning Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women v. Knoll, in which Alito joined in striking down Pennsylvania's law requiring women who have been raped to report the crime when seeking state funding for abotion, on the basis that the law was invalidated by a Clinton administration policy that prohibited states from tacking on conditions to Medicaid abortion funding.

Take those cases into account, and the picture being painted of a crusading conservative activist falls apart. Alito is a guy who rules as the law requires, not as his policy preferences dictate.

topics:
Medicaid, Abortion, Law, Supreme Court