A bombshell report from Politico claims the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to completely overturn Roe v. Wade, and that news organization also claims it has seen the first draft of the ruling, which it says was drafted by Justice Alito.
“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,” Politico’s reports.
If true, abortion would no longer be considered a constitutional right, and other rights, especially same-sex marriage, are expected to be overturned as well by the uber-conservative Court.
It is all but unprecedented that a leak has come out of the Supreme Court.
“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.”
The Court is expected to hand down its decision in June, which would lead at least 26 states to immediately ban abortion in full, experts have said.
On MSNBC Politico’s Josh Gerstein says they are “very confident” the document they obtained is legitimate. MSNBC later reported four former SCOTUS clerks say the document appears to be a legitimate work product of the Court.
Politico has published a full copy of what it says is the draft opinion.
UPDATE – MSNBC’s report:
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change.