Leaked Draft Opinion Suggests Supreme Court Will Overturn Roe

By Hamodia Staff

A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized nationwide the cessation of the life of an unborn, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter.

Politico published what was labeled as a “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The Supreme Court has yet to issue a ruling in the case, and opinions — and even justices’ votes — have been known to change during the drafting process. The court is expected to rule on the case before its term is up in late June or early July.

The draft is signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the draft opinion states.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” it adds, referencing the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey that affirmed Roe’s finding of a Constitutional right to this procedure but allowed states to place some constraints on the practice. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue … to the people’s elected representatives.”

The draft opinion in effect states there is no constitutional right to these services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or outright ban the procedure.

Politico said only 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 supporting the authenticity of the document.”

Crowds gathered outside the Court building Monday night, with social media videos showing people protesting or celebrating the impending overturning of Roe and Casey.

The leak of the draft was an extraordinary departure from the secretive Court’s drafting procedures, and speculation immediately began as to the identity and motivations of the leakers. One popular theory on social media was that the leaker was a liberal law clerk, seeking to build public outrage against the pending ruling so as to get one or more conservatives to change their position.

On Tuesday, the Court confirmed that the draft was real.

“Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic,” the Court said in a statement, “it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the
case.”

Chief Justice John Roberts also released a statement Tuesday, decrying the leak.

“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed,” Roberts said. “The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.

“We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce – permanent employees and law clerks alike – intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.

“I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the
leak.”

With reporting by AP

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