Right. The threat is always present - and executed. By elected representatives, who can be removed at the next election, or by not elected judges (and those do write stuff - and their case law is already put in writing - Roe v. Wade ring a bell?).
Now imagine an USSC fully staffed by Clinton/Obama, no voter has a say whatsoever... 9:0...for decades to come... choose your poison...
About that "putting it in writing" - again: Different basic law concepts, but the outcomes are often similar. The remedies, perhaps not so much.
Still a difference between judicial activism and a constitutional article. Take note that a pre-Roe time did exist, as did a pre-Plessy time.