According to Politico, a draft opinion in the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, saying that it enumerates a “right” that does not exist in the Constitution.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
Roe v. Wade was decided over 50 years ago, saying there is a Constitutional right to abortion. Overturning this decision does not mean that abortion will be illegal. It means that laws on abortion will be handed back to the states.
Note that this allegedly is an initial majority draft, written by Justice Alito and supported by Gorsuch, Thomas and Barrett. It runs 98 pages. Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are allegedly working on dissents. Justice Roberts’ vote was unclear.
The final decision will not be revealed until June.
Author’s note:
Interesting the timing of this. Apparently, this is a draft that was written in February. Never before has an opinion of this kind leaked from the Supreme Court.
The Biden Administration is losing the war in Ukraine, and is taking hits for the new Disinformation Board, and a string of other failures.
This issue will certainly take over the news cycle and energize segments of Democrat base. You can expect massive protests on this.
Some are saying this is not a genuine opinion, that perhaps it was written by a clerk. Alan Dershowitz says it was likely leaked by a liberal law clerk seeking to change the outcome.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473