The U.S. Supreme Court, according to a report in Politico, has drafted an opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, predictably, is up in arms over the leak.
“I am in utter disbelief that the sacred confidentiality of the Supreme Court would be violated in this manner. Sadly, this leak was done in order to cause chaos and to put pressure on justices and elected officials,” Youngkin said in a statement Tuesday.
According to the Politico report, Justice Samuel Alito drafted an opinion in February with the stunning line that “(w)e hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” which would signal an end to the half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights.
The Politico reporting has it that five of the court’s nine justices had voted to overturn Roe and Casey, a 1992 decision that upheld Roe, after hearing oral arguments in December in a case involving a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The document obtained by Politico is labeled “1st draft,” and it is not known where the debate among the justices on the case is currently, or exactly when a final decision will be handed down.
Youngkin’s protestations over the leak, and not the substance, is in line with how Republican leaders across the board are reacting to today’s news.
“It’s premature to speculate on what the Supreme Court’s decision will be; however, we learned from listening to Virginians over the last year that we have much common ground on this issue. I am pro-life, and I have been very clear about that since the day I launched my campaign,” Youngkin said.
Story by Chris Graham
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