Supreme Court apparently to overturn Roe v. Wade abortion case, draft opinion shows: REPORT

The doc, which Politico mentioned it obtained from a “particular person accustomed to the court docket’s proceedings,” is marked “first draft” and dated Feb. 10, 2022 — two months after oral arguments have been heard within the case Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group. ABC Information has not independently confirmed the draft.

“Roe was egregiously flawed from the beginning,” writes Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion’s obvious writer, in a replica of the draft posted on-line.

The leak is a rare breach of Supreme Court docket protocol and custom. By no means earlier than has such a consequential draft opinion been leaked to the general public earlier than publication.

Reached by ABC Information, a Supreme Court docket spokeswoman declined to remark.

The Dobbs case includes Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant — properly earlier than fetal viability, the longstanding dividing line established by the court docket earlier than which states can not limit a lady’s entry to the process.

Throughout arguments in December, 5 of the justices hinted that they have been able to put off the “viability customary” established by Roe and a subsequent 1992 choice, Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey.

An unnamed supply accustomed to the deliberations informed Politico that Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett all initially supported a ruling siding with Mississippi and “that line-up stays unchanged as of this week.”

The drafting of Supreme Court docket opinions, nevertheless, is a fluid and dynamic course of, sources accustomed to the inner operations have informed ABC Information. The doc posted suggests a majority of justices is more likely to facet with Mississippi, however how broad a ruling will finally come down stays unclear.

Chief Justice John Roberts famously modified his vote late throughout deliberations over the Inexpensive Care Act in 2012, narrowly saving the legislation from being struck down. A Wall Road Journal editorial this month recommended that Roberts, who reveres established precedent and the court docket’s repute, could also be attempting to persuade one in every of his conservative colleagues to affix him in a narrower opinion.

If Alito’s opinion have been to carry, as written, it could dramatically upend abortion rights throughout America, successfully permitting every state to set its personal coverage.

“The Structure doesn’t prohibit the residents of every State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” the draft concludes. “Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule these selections and return that authority to the individuals and their elected representatives.”

This can be a creating story. Please examine again for updates.