An unconfirmed Scotus Initial Draft Opinion Against Roe v. Wade at the US Supreme Court, which appears to have been first published by Politico, shows that SCOTUS has voted to overturn abortion rights.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Alito writes in an initial majority draft circulated inside the court.
It was reported Monday night that the US Supreme Court building had been barricaded:
The Boston Globe reported on the Politico story:
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 abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. However, it’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter.
The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft Politico posted, which, if verified, marks a shocking revelation of the high court’s secretive deliberation process, particularly before a case is formally decided.
The 98 page draft was posted on Twitter by Journalist Kyle Becker:
Facts of the case
In 2018, Mississippi passed a law called the “Gestational Age Act,” which prohibits all abortions, with few exceptions, after 15 weeks’ gestational age. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only licensed abortion facility in Mississippi, and one of its doctors filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging the law and requesting an emergency temporary restraining order (TRO). After a hearing, the district court granted the TRO while the litigation proceeded to discovery. After discovery, the district court granted the clinic’s motion for summary judgment and enjoined Mississippi from enforcing the law, finding that the state had not provided evidence that a fetus would be viable at 15 weeks, and Supreme Court precedent prohibits states from banning abortions prior to viability. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed. Question Is Mississippi’s law banning nearly all abortions after 15 weeks’ gestational age unconstitutional?
AP News reported that a Supreme Court spokeswoman said the court had no comment on the draft.
The news outlet published what was labeled as a “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Opening statements from 2021 by Scott G. Stewart:
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court: Roe versus Wade and Planned Parenthood versus Casey haunt our country.
They have no basis in the Constitution.
They have no home in our history or traditions.
They’ve damaged the democratic process.
They’ve poisoned the law. They’ve choked off compromise. For 50 years, they’ve kept this Court at the center of a political battle that it can never resolve.
And 50 years on, they stand alone.
Nowhere else does this Court recognize a right to end a human life. Consider this case: The Mississippi law here prohibits abortions after 15 weeks. The law includes robust exceptions for a woman’s life and health.
It leaves months to obtain an abortion.
Yet, the courts below struck the law down.
It didn’t matter that the law apply — that the law applies when an unborn child is undeniably human, when risks to women surge, and when the common abortion procedure is brutal. The lower courts held that because the law prohibits abortions before viability, it is unconstitutional no matter what. Roe and Casey’s core holding, according to those courts, is that the people can protect an unborn girl’s life when she just barely can survive outside the womb but not any earlier when she needs a little more help.
That is the world under Roe and Casey. That is not the world the Constitution promises.
The Constitution places its trust in the people.
On hard issue after hard issue, the people make this country work.
Abortion is a hard issue.
It demands the best from all of us, not a judgment by just a few of us.
When an issue affects everyone and when the Constitution does not take sides on it, it belongs to the people. Roe and Casey have failed, but the people, if given the chance, will succeed.
This Court should overrule Roe and Casey and uphold the state’s law.
And it is very possible the right to live movement got it’s wishes.