Supreme Court Has Voted to Overturn Roe v. Wade, Leaked Draft Opinion Suggests

Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Justice Alito writes in an initial majority draft circulated inside the court.

By JOSH GERSTEIN and ALEXANDER WARD

05/02/2022 08:32 PM EDT

The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO.

The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Deliberations on controversial cases have in the past been fluid. Justices can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate and major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled. The court’s holding will not be final until it is published, likely in the next two months.

The immediate impact of the ruling as drafted in February would be to end a half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and allow each state to decide whether to restrict or ban abortion. It’s unclear if there have been subsequent changes to the draft.

No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending.

Liberals leaking a SCOTUS decision to pressure the justices to change their mind is an attack on our system 100000000 times more serious than the Capitol riot. This is why you should never listen to these fraudulent assholes when they prattle on about "saving democracy"

— Best Selling Biologist Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 3, 2022

The SCOTUS leak is an actual insurrection. An attempt to completely upend and delegitimize the rule of law, incite violence and chaos, and potentially plunge the nation into civil war. January 6th was a stroll in the park compared to this. It's not even close.

— Best Selling Biologist Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 3, 2022

A person called Amit Jain clerks for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

As a Yale student, Jain blasted Yale for supporting Brett Kavanaugh's nomination.

Jain was quoted in a 2017 Politico piece by Josh Gerstein.

Today, Gerstein published the draft SCOTUS opinion on Roe.

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) May 3, 2022

If it is proven that Sotomayor’s office was behind the leak — and that’s still an if — it wouldn’t be the first time this year her office appeared to be behind a political leak. https://t.co/nzpAyxnhH9

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) May 3, 2022

Alito's draft opinion overturning Roe and Casey approvingly cites Clarence Thomas' debunked claim that abortion is a tool of eugenics against Black people. https://t.co/4690k0KG1Fhttps://t.co/Kw7x5klE0u pic.twitter.com/DSPxDsBzNv

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) May 3, 2022

It’s impossible to overstate the earthquake this will cause inside the Court, in terms of the destruction of trust among the Justices and staff. This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin.

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) May 3, 2022

Two final thoughts. 1. Politico reports that the 5 original votes to overturn Roe are “unchanged *as of this week*,” but does not report (and the leaker would know) that they have all said they will join the Alito opinion. At least 1 is apparently uncommitted. Hence the leak?

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) May 3, 2022

(cont’d) 2. Those interested in who leaked the draft should wonder why Alexander Ward — a national security reporter — shares the byline. The leaker would insist that their identity be incredibly tightly held. Politico would not assign someone who didn’t have to be on the story.

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) May 3, 2022

The alleged leak of the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is nothing short of breathtaking. It would constitute one of the greatest breaches of security in the history of the Court.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 3, 2022

...If this is a true copy of the draft opinion it is hard not to view this as a malicious act. What is the motivation of releasing such a decision? The only intent of such a leak is to trigger a response from outside of the Court.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 3, 2022

...The most likely motivation is obviously to pressure the Court and push the legislation in Congress on a federal abortion law before the midterm elections. It will also likely renew the call for court packing.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 3, 2022

It’s not only the draft that leaked but the secretive justice vote after oral arguments.

Unthinkable. Unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/uNCrcECZvK

— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) May 3, 2022

To think we spent 20 years fighting violent religious extremists—abroad.

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 3, 2022

MASHUP! Pro-abortionists are losing their minds over the thought of not being able to kill babies. pic.twitter.com/0oqFZyMpu5

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 3, 2022

Crowd of protesters is growing quickly, and pushing toward the barricade that the handful of guards put up earlier tonight. Chants of “fascist scum have got to go,” interspersed with the names of the conservative justices pic.twitter.com/2OHtE2pLuy

— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) May 3, 2022

...If a suspect lies to the FBI, there could be prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 1001. Thus, the culprit will have to make a decision today of whether to radically increase the potential costs of this act...

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 3, 2022

...This is a relatively small number of individuals with access to these drafts. It is likely that the culprit will be contacted quickly with others by investigators. That will prove a critical moment that could transform an unethical into a criminal act.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 3, 2022