The text leaked to the Politico website represents a rare glimpse into the confidential deliberation process of the Cutparticularly in a case of such importance.
The President of the Supreme Court of USAJohn Roberts said Tuesday that the “draft opinion” on abortion released by the press is authentic, but it is not the final decision on the issue.
Roberts also said in a statement that he has ordered the court bailiff to launch an investigation into the source of the leak, an extraordinary move for the high court.
“Roe was remarkably bad from the beginning,” says the draft opinion. The draft is signed by Judge Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s six-judge conservative majority, against three liberals. Alito was nominated by former President George W. Bush.
The document was called “the first draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks’ gestation, known as Dobbs v. Mississippi Women’s Health Organization. Jackson.
The Court is expected to rule on the case in late June or early July, before its session expires.
In practical terms, the draft opinion asserts that there is no constitutional right to abortion services, and would allow each state to more strictly regulate the procedure or ban it altogether.
“We hold that Roe and Casey should be overturned,” he adds, referring to the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case that upheld the Roe ruling on a constitutional right to abortion services, but allowed states to place certain limitations on abortion. the practice. “It is time to listen to the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the elected representatives.”
A Supreme Court spokeswoman said the court had no comment, and The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the draft published by Politico, which is dated February.
Politico only indicated that it received “a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the Court’s proceedings in the Mississippi case, along with other details that support the authenticity of the document.”
The “draft opinion” strongly suggests that when the justices met privately shortly after the case arguments on December 1, at least five voted to overrule Roe and Casey, and Alito was given the task of writing the majority opinion of the court.
Votes and opinions in a case are not final until a decision is announced or — in a change brought about by the coronavirus pandemic — posted on the Court’s website.
The report comes as Congresses in several Republican-led states, most recently Oklahoma, are working on laws to restrict abortion, even before the court issues its decision. Critics of those measures have said low-income women will bear the brunt of the new restrictions.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that “basic fairness and the stability of our law demand” that the Court not reverse Roe v. Wade.
“If the Court strikes down Roe, this will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect women’s right to choose,” Biden said.
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