[pmoriarty]

"A topical and obvious example is that the current Roe vs. Wade controversy just couldn't happen in the EU - as it's unrelated to trade or competition"

The US Federal government has been very crafty in associating just about anything to "interstate commerce"[1] and thereby expanding its power enormously.

I'm sure the same thing could happen in the EU given some creative lawyering and a judiciary willing to swallow their arguments.

It's the appointment/election of particular judges and their willingness to craft or go along with certain arguments and interpret laws in certain ways that is really at the crux of how nations are governed.

Like the old saying goes: It's not votes that count, but those who count the votes. Likewise, it's not the laws that matter, but those who interpret the laws.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerce_Clause