The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, rendered exactly 47 years ago, has become a type of Death Star, traveling through our legal and cultural universe, destroying everything in its path. Never has a single decision, with so many flaws and such a grisly result, gained such dominance over so many.

Every Supreme Court decision has a judgment and an opinion. The judgment decides that case, while the opinion explaining the judgment becomes a precedent affecting many other cases, involving many other issues, far into the future.