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Politico: SCOTUS Striking Down Roe v. Wade According to Leak
Do we trust Politico? Can we trust a leak from the most leak-free branch of the government? Here’s their breaking story:
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.”
This is all very, very odd. The Supreme Court is famed for not leaking decisions before they are officially announced. In the past, there hasn’t been even a hint of which way a pending case may break. If the leak is accurate, it violates a sacrosanct tradition which will damage the court’s reputation and congenial relations between the justices and their staff.
The 98-page draft allegedly came “from a person familiar with the court’s proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document.”
One Alito quote reads: “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.” The leaker claims Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett agree with Alito.
If the leak is genuine and Roe v. Wade will be overturned, I think this helps the conservative side, at least slightly. It lets some hot air out of the balloon before the official announcement, lessening any possible midterm blowback. Far, far more importantly, it will save babies’ lives.
Published in General
This has to be fake. SCOTUS doesn’t leak. If so, the responsible staffer should be fired and permanently disbarred if they are a lawyer.
But if there was ever a decision that would be leaked, this would be the one.
Tough call.
John Yoo to the white courtesy phone… call for Mr. John Yoo on the white courtesy phone…
I still think the story is bogus.
Any bets on Roberts siding with the libs?
I do think that the US Supreme Court will overturn Roe v Wade. Perhaps it will be a 5 to 4 decision with John Roberts siding with the 3 Lefties and Gorsuch, Alito, Kavanaugh, Thomas and Barrett voting to overturn.
He just told the story how when the Court finally got email it was on a network not connected to the internet. It’s a bit suspicious coming from a group famous for no leaks.
If Roe is overturned, it will be interesting to see how far some of the deep blue states are going to go to interfere with abortion policy in the red states.
For example, right now California has a huge surplus, over 50 billion, I think. The California legislature is 75 percent Democrat and the governor is Leftist.
So, how much do you want to bet that the California legislature and governor will appropriate money to purchase airline tickets for pregnant women in red states so that they can fly to California for an abortion? If California is willing to fund health care and unemployment insurance for illegal aliens, why wouldn’t they fund abortion for people who don’t even live in California?
I suggest that you go to the Politico story, and see that the document they cited is in the exact form as it would be published in the U.S. Reports. No, the form is pitch perfect, I think that this is an actual 1st Draft of Alito’s opinion.
The writing is crisp and clear. It was like music to my ears. I was in law school from 1973 to 1976. I was one of a very small minority at the time who saw Roe as bad law.
One of the great aspects of the Supreme Court is their ability to keep a secret until the opinion is actually released. This breach of confidentiality is terrible and I hope that the person who did it is caught and punished severely.
Manufactured “leak”. I doubt that any such Court opinion would be so critical of a Court precedent. Probably has the prints of the abortion lobby on it. Watch for them to fund raise upon it. And to use for November electioneering.
The penumbra of an emanation is no more?
No more stinky shadows.
If this happens, it’ll be good for Republican voter turnout. Give them reason to think their party and judicial appointees will do something right and make the effort worth it from time to time. Give them reason to fight the next battle. The idea that we should keep GOP voters coming back every election for the Roe battle is ridiculous.
But, conversely, the dems DO keep bringing dem voters back every election for the battle to keep Roe. We will see nothing but clothes hangers and dark alleys for months.
That is my bet. Also, that he is responsible for the leak.
That may be. But betraying GOP voters yet again is not worth avoiding that.
More importantly, of course: Do what’s right. Don’t bother with 4D chess. “Even the very wise cannot see all ends,” and I am not even very wise.
Roberts is such a politician that I’d think he’d vote with the majority side just so it would be a 6-3 decision instead of 5-4.
The ‘good’ Chief Justice will most certainly side with the libs. Bastard.
Am I the only one cynical enough to think Roberts would be behind the leak just so he could test the waters and the
public’smedia’s reaction? He’ll vote with the prevailing winds. An institutionalist concerned about image of the court. Nothing more.Nope
This will be an especially hard blow for male birthing persons who have never had to worry about abortion access before.
The GOPe has been great at finding campaign issues and managing to keep them alive all the way to the next election. They’ve ridden Roe into the ground. Time to act or be revealed as the frauds I truly believe they are.
I still suspect it’s fake even if it’s well constructed. I have never heard of a SCOTUS leak. I think Politico is trying to scaremonger the Left into leaning on the conservative justices. Or trying to stir up the Antifa crowd to physically attack/protest the Court building and/or harm/harass the justices.
I expect riots outside the Court in the morning.
EDIT: Allow me to correct myself. I didn’t realize it was a whole draft opinion that was released. I thought it was fragments. That was why I thought it was fake. Now I have to rethink my position.
FWIW: Dershowitz: I Believe Liberal Law Clerk Leaked Decision on Roe v Wade (rumble.com)
Haven’t the votes already been made? So it’s too late for Roberts to test the waters and decide which way to vote.
If it’s true – my guess on the leaker is either one of the 3 lib’s or Roberts. I don’t think the others would leak.
I don’t know. Do the justices select someone to write a draft opinion and then debate it among themselves? Reports over the years say there is usually a lot of “lobbying” preceding a public announcement.
This quote from Politico perhaps gives a clue to why it was leaked – whether or not the leaked document is actually genuine.
“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.”
They could have leaked it a) if true, hoping to stir up enough trouble to get someone to change their vote or b) if fake, as a warning to the conservatives of what could happen.
If a Justice leaked it, they oughta be impeached. And totally shunned by the other justices.
Roberts has the reputation of joining the majority and then writing the opinion to be as narrow as possible. Thomas is most senior, so he would write the majority if Roberts is in the minority.
This was leaked by a liberal justice or her clerk, to pressure Roberts and Kavanaugh. Leftists have no honor. Nothing is finished until it is finished. Remember Sibelius.