Other states, like Arizona, could resurrect laws on abortion, LGBTQ+ issues and more that have been lying dormant for more than 100 years

Pro-abortion rights demonstrators rally in Scottsdale, Ariz., on April 15, 2024. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images by Dara E. Purvis, Penn State When the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to get an abortion in June 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the court “should reconsider” other rights it currently recognizes – like the rights for same-sex couples to have sex and marry. If the Supreme Court overturns legal precedents on these and other issues, old state laws that haven’t been enforced, possibly for centuries, can suddenly spring back to life. This is what happened after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9, 2024, that an 1864 abortion ban should be enforced. The ban is an example of zombie laws – old state laws that are neither enforced nor repealed. I am a scholar of constitutional rights, particularly rights won in court like student speech, the right to direct one’s own medical care, abortion and parental rights. There are many old and unenforceable state laws that are left on the books because of inertia. It might seem unnecessary for a state legislature to repeal a law that is not enforced or has been superseded by a more recent...