Supreme Court LiveUpdate: Roe v. Wade Judgment Leaked

“We believe we must dismiss Roe and Casey,” Judge Alito said in a document labeled “Court Opinion,” referring to the second decision that reaffirmed Roe. I am writing in. “It’s time to pay attention to the Constitution and return the abortion issue to the elected representatives of the people.”

The draft posted by Politico is in line with the Supreme Court’s opinion in many respects, large and small, including structure, length, typography, and the way legal citations are expressed. Its assertive and sometimes novel tone is very similar to other key opinions from Judge Arito.

The publication of the 98-page document is unprecedented in the modern history of the court. Before the final decision was announced, the initial draft of the opinion was virtually never leaked, and it is by no means such a consequential case. And early opinions often change by the time the court’s decision is announced.

Immediately after the article was published on Monday night, Politico’s editor-in-chief Matthew Kaminski and his editor-in-chief Dafna Linzer sent an email to newsroom employees highlighting its authenticity. .. In that memo, Kaminsky and Linzer said the article had undergone a “massive review process” and described it as “apparently public interest news.”

A Supreme Court spokesman, who was asked to respond to the apparent leak, said the court did not comment.

If a judge announces a decision in line with an early leaked draft, it’s a major change in US law and politics, and who controls Capitol Hill’s power just months before the parliamentary midterm elections. Decide if.

Although abortion has long been a vibrant issue for many, but has receded as a central issue in the presidential election, it has long divided the two parties and the country. Court decisions in line with early draft decisions could trigger new political battles in Congress and states across the country as to whether and how procedures should be restricted.

Politico reported that the judges who voted to support Judge Arito’s opinion were Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Judges Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan are working on the complaint, according to the press. It was not clear how Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. was going to vote.

The Roe v. Wade case, which established the constitutional right to abortion in the groundbreaking case of 1973, has since been the centerpiece of American jurisdiction. In court terms, it was precedent to consolidate women’s fundamental right to access legal abortion. For years, the court has accepted the restrictions on its rights, but it does not deviate from the basic legal standards set by Roe.

The current court, with six conservative judges and three liberal judges, has shown signs that it may be ready to reconsider its position over the past year.

In a December Supreme Court debate, a conservative judge indicated that he would reduce, if not revoke, the protection of federal abortion, leaving most of the regulation to individual states.

In more than 20 conservative states, lawmakers have drafted a bill that effectively bans abortion if the court overturns the Roe v. Wade case. If the court accepts Judge Arito’s draft opinion as the final position, it will soon pave the way for those bills to become law.

The draft opinion has a familiar discussion with Roe. The Constitution is silent about abortion, and its text and structure state that nothing supports the constitutional right to abortion. Roe, followed by a draft, is so badly wrong that it’s not worth keeping as a precedent. According to the draft, the proper approach is to return the question to the state.

The Mississippi Act, which was challenged in this case, bans abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, and Judge Arito was neutral, advocated by Judge Roberts when the case was discussed in December. I was able to adopt the approach. Another day Roe.

According to Judge Arito’s draft, the majority rejected the approach.

If a draft opinion or something like that is finally issued, it will create a court rift that could test its legitimacy.

In the discussion, three liberal members of the court said that overturning Roe immediately after the change in court membership would undermine the power of the court. In fact, Judge Sonia Sotomayor said doing so would pose an existential threat.

“Can this agency survive the stink it creates in the general perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” She asked.

“How do we survive if people really believe it’s all political?” She asked. “How will the court survive?”

The leak of draft opinion shocked Washington on Monday night. The revelation from the draft opinion once again puts the nine judges at the center of one of the most controversial issues in American life.

But this leak could also be the starting point for a fierce new political debate, even before the judge makes the final decision.

Conservatives who opposed the right to abortion immediately welcomed Judge Arito’s conclusions as correct for the country and praised him for legal reasons that had been discussed in public opinion courts for decades.

“We still don’t know if the rumors of Roe’s demise are accurate, but we know that ending Roe is the right decision and that a few judges on the agenda will return the matter to” our people. ” “Masu,” said Christan Hawkins. President of Life of America students. “In the Constitution,’abortion’, written in invisible ink, was not discovered until 1973, when seven men saw it. Ending the life of a newborn human is always a judicial mistake. “

Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton, Tweet on Monday night “Roe was terribly wrong from the beginning. I pray that the court will obey the Constitution and allow the state to protect the life of the fetus again.”

But he also assassinated the draft opinion leak, stating that the Supreme Court and the Justice Department “must use all the necessary investigative tools to quickly reach the root of this leak.”

Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists also criticized the leak. However, many quickly saw the news as the main reason voters should support Democrats in the fall elections.

“If this report is true, this Republican attack on access to abortion, contraception and women’s health care has dramatically escalated bets on the 2022 election,” the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee said. Said Christie Roberts, Managing Director of the. “At this crucial moment, we need to protect and expand the majority of the Democratic Senate with the authority to confirm or reject justice in the Supreme Court.”

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018, said: As Congress and the State Legislature have tightened restrictions on reproductive health: It simply means that women are no longer safe in this country, which is at the feet of the Republicans. “

On Twitter on Monday night, the news sparked a debate over which parties could benefit from the early exposure of the court’s possible decisions. Many argued that the Democratic Party would use this report to invigorate core voters.

Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat in Washington and a member of her party leader in the Senate, promised to do just that.

“After sounding these alarms for years, it’s time to break the glass,” she wrote in a statement. “We need to fight everything we have now. The right to abortion is at stake and I will never stop fighting to protect abortion.”

The report was contributed by Karl Hals, Emily Cochrane, Elizabeth Diaz From Washington, and Kate Zernike, Benjamin Marine When Katie Robertson From New York.