3. Arguably the most controversial legal ruling in history, ever since the promulgation of the right to an abortion under Roe v. Wade activists have sought to overturn the decision
Following the failed efforts of twenty-one-year-old Norma McCorvey to obtain an abortion in June 1969, a legal challenge was initiated to contest the stringent anti-abortion laws in her home state of Texas. Successful at both the District and Appellate levels, a Fifth Circuit court unanimously declared the Texan law to be unconstitutional and in violation of the Ninth Amendment. Reaching the United States Supreme Court following a government appeal in 1971, Jay Floyd, the lawyer representing Texas, opened arguments with what has since become known as the “worst joke in legal history”.
Making a horrendously sexist remark about his two female counterparts representing McCorvey, the vicious comment resulted in observers thinking Chief Justice Warren Burger might descend from the bench to strike Floyd. Entering into a prolonged period of deliberation, including a second arguing of the case, the Supreme Court did not issue an opinion until January 1973. Ruling 7-2 in favor of McCorvey, known at the time by the alias Roe, the court declared the right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment afforded women the right to decide whether or not to obtain an abortion in the event of pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus.