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112 Va. L. Rev. 1 (2026)

handle is hein.journals/valr112 and id is 1 raw text is: COPYRIGHT © 2026 VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW ASSOCIATION VIRGINIA LAW REVIEW VOLUME 112 MARCH 2026 NUMBER 1 ARTICLES THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY AFTER DOBBS Melissa Murray* and Katherine Shaw * In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court deconstitutionalized the right to choose abortion, announcing that it was leaving the power to regulate abortion to the people and their elected representatives. In the wake of Dobbs, state-level elected representatives quickly got to work, resulting in dramatic changes to the abortion access landscape. But increasingly, the people have also sought to shape the law directly: voters, using mechanisms like ballot initiatives and referenda, have gone to the ballot box to register their views on reproductive freedom. Many of those initiatives have preserved or expanded access to abortion, demonstrating the potential for direct democracy to counteract troubling facets of the current landscape. In the face of increasingly minoritarian institutions and some courts' abandonment of their traditional rights-protecting and democracy-enhancing functions, direct democracy seems full of promise. * Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, New York University School of Law. ** Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. For outstanding research assistance, we thank Jack Bolen, Nina McKay, and Maeve Wiesen (NYU), and Emily Bleiberg, Rocquel Donofrio, Tanner Gildea, and Narintohn Luangrath (Penn). We are grateful to Cynthia Godsoe, Gus Hurwitz, Serena Mayeri, Francesca Procaccini, Jane Schacter, Miriam Seifter, Reva Siegel, Sarah Swan, and Karen Tani, as well as workshop participants at the New York Area Family Law Scholars Workshop, the Minnesota Public Law Workshop, the Washington and Lee Faculty Workshop, and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Faculty Workshop. All errors are ours. 1