A leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion on a Mississippi abortion ban revealed that a majority of the conservative justices has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade.
Continue reading “Five Key Takeaways From The Bombshell SCOTUS Draft Opinion Dismantling Roe”Supreme Court Confirms That Leaked Abortion Opinion Draft Is Legitimate
The leaked opinion showing a majority of Supreme Court justices voting to overturn abortion rights is legitimate, according to the public information officer of the Supreme Court.
“Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case,” Court spokesperson Patricia McCabe said.
Below the official court statement, Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement that he has directed the Marshal of the Court to investigate the source of the leak.
The draft was obtained by Politico and published Monday evening. The outlet reported that the opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito, who was joined by Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch when they voted in conference after oral arguments in December.
Read the statements here:
Statement from Biden
The White House just released this statement about Roe. Here’s the text and then a few comments from me.
Continue reading “Statement from Biden”Yep, Making Roe The Law Is Doable in 2023
I wanted to do some initial scoping out of the implications of the overturning of Roe for federal politics — both the impact on elections and the chances of passing federal laws to codify Roe.
The first thing is that people will tell you that there’s no practical way a federal abortion rights bill can get passed. That is definitely wrong. Whether or not such a law happens is entirely up to the results of the 2022 midterms. And it doesn’t require heroic assumptions.
Continue reading “Yep, Making Roe The Law Is Doable in 2023”Post-Roe at the State Level
In the flurry of reactions to the apparent/reported overturning of Roe last night, I saw a campaigns analyst comment that the odds of the Virginia GOP scoring a trifecta (unified control of state government) in 2023 had fallen dramatically. The Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, I’m sure along with others I haven’t seen yet, put out a statement essentially saying ‘no need to worry about abortion rights in Pennsylvania as long as I’m here’.
Continue reading “Post-Roe at the State Level”Leaked SCOTUS Draft Striking Down Roe Sets Off Firestorm
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
A Post-Roe World Is Upon Us
The Supreme Court is about to dismantle Roe v. Wade, per an unprecedented leak of a majority opinion draft penned by Justice Samuel Alito in the Mississippi abortion case. According to Politico, which first reported on the February draft, the opinion was written after Alito and fellow Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch voted in conference.
The language in Alito’s decision is deeply hostile toward Roe. It’s possible the langage of the final draft will be somewhat different, but it seems unlike the putative majority of five conservative justices would collapse. It’s still unknown where Chief Justice John Roberts will come down in the case, but CNN reported Roberts was reluctant to overturn Roe in full.
Democrats and pro-choice advocates have bitterly denounced the high court while conservatives, curiously, are largely focused on the fact of the leak rather than taking a victory lap over the ruling they’ve been after for decades.
Meanwhile, pro-choice and anti-abortion protesters alike have flocked to the Supreme Court in wake of the bombshell leak.
Roe Supporters Are Enraged
Democrats are putting the Supreme Court’s conservative majority on full blast, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling the decision in a joint statement an “an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history” at the hands of conservative Justices who “have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation.”
- NARAL President Mini Timmaraju: “Tonight’s news from the Supreme Court is devastating. Whatever you’re feeling right now, we are there with you.”
- In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders announced they will seek to add abortion protections to the state constitution.
- Several pro-Roe lawmakers in Congress, such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are calling for Roe to be codified into law by nuking the filibuster or even expanding the court, as some Democrats have advocated in the past.
- Some pro-choice supporters are expressing frustration with Democrats, who despite controlling the White House and Congress, don’t seem prepared to deal with this bombshell beyond telling pro-choice supporters to vote for them.
Crowds Gathered Late Monday At Supreme Court
Protestors on both sides of the abortion debate spontaneously gathered at the Supreme Court late Monday evening after the leak of the draft opinion in the Mississippi abortion case.
Roe Opponents Deflect
Some conservatives who ought to be popping the champaign oddly seem more interested in pearl-clutching over the fact of the leak, with the victory itself either an afterthought or not even mentioned at all:
A few samples from the faux outrage machine:
Though not all conservatives wanted to focus on the leak:
Susan B. Anthony List: “If the draft opinion made public tonight is the final opinion of the court, we wholeheartedly applaud the decision.”
An Extraordinary Leak
Nothing like it has happened in half a century. The last time there was a leak of a draft of a Supreme Court opinion in advance on a matter as consequential as potentially overturning Roe v. Wade was … when the decision in Roe v. Wade itself was leaked.
- Among close observers of the Supreme Court, the fact of the leak itself landed like a bombshell:
- Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal called the leak the “Pentagon Papers equivalent” for the Supreme Court.
- Politico’s Josh Gerstein, who got the scoop, writes about its rarity: “How rare is a Supreme Court breach? Very rare“
- Speculation quickly turned to motive:
Jan. 6 Panel Sends Info Requests To Three Congressional Trump Goons
The House Jan. 6 Committee reached out to Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Ronny Jackson (R-TX) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) on Monday with information requests on their various connections to the Capitol attack and Trump’s election steal crusade.
- The panel’s letter to Brooks zeroed in on his shocking revelation that Trump had asked him to somehow “rescind” the 2020 election results and get him re-installed in the White House. Brooks has said he told Trump, who had endorsed the Alabama congressman’s Senate bid, that he wouldn’t do that. The ex-president has since un-endorsed Brooks.
- The letter to Jackson pointed to a series of texts between the far-right Oath Keepers during the insurrection saying the GOP congressman “needs protection” because he had “critical data to protect.”
- The letter to Biggs asked about his ties to “Stop the Steal” activist Ali Alexander’s alleged “Occupy the Capitol” scheme (to which Brooks also had ties).
Georgia DA Selects Special Grand Jury Under War Prep Conditions
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis empaneled a special grand jury on Monday in her investigation into Trump’s attempted election steal after law enforcement closed the roads surrounding the courthouse in Atlanta and stationed deputies with assault rifles at the perimeter of the building (plus snipers on the roof, according to CNN). Willis also acquired bulletproof vests for her prosecutors.
- However, there wasn’t any violence or major protests, despite Trump’s open call for another Jan. 6 in Atlanta and other cities where prosecutors are investigating him and/or his businesses.
- Willis has said she’s holding off on calling witnesses until June 1, after Georgia’s May 24 primary.
JP Mandel Unbothered By Trump’s Botched Shout-Out
Today is Ohio’s much-awaited Senate primary, and GOP candidate J.D. Vance, having been blessed with Trump’s coveted endorsement, has shrugged off the ex-president calling him “J.P.”/”J.D. Mandel” during a rally on Sunday.
- Vance told CBS News on Monday that he’s “not worried” about Trump mixing up his name with that of his top rival, Josh Mandel. And hey, maybe Trump was just having a Tim Apple moment–or maybe it was the ex-president’s weird way of getting back at Vance for calling him “America’s Hitler” in 2016.
Harris Tests Negative For COVID
Vice President Kamala Harris, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, is returning to work today after getting a negative test on Monday, according to her office. While she was out, Harris took Paxlovid, Pfizer’s new antiviral medication for treating COVID, and was asymptomatic.
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Miscellaneous Observations
POINT: CNN is now reporting that Justice Roberts planned to dissent from Alito’s majority opinion. He was willing to affirm the 15 week Mississippi law but not overturn Roe in its entirety. That sounds fairly Roberts-like in a way, though it’s notable to me that a Chief Justice would want to be on the dissenting side of perhaps the most historic decision of his tenure when he must have at most equivocal feelings about overturning Roe. In any case, the rapidity with which Roberts’ apparent decision was reported out makes me wonder whether the breakdown in secrecy with this case doesn’t go beyond the leak of Alito’s draft majority decision. Don’t know precisely what this would mean. But keep that in mind. That’s real fast.
Continue reading “Miscellaneous Observations”Report: SCOTUS Majority Has Voted To Overturn Roe, According To Leaked Opinion
A draft Supreme Court majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has reportedly leaked, seemingly the first draft of the Court’s coming decision in a 15-week abortion case out of Mississippi.
Continue reading “Report: SCOTUS Majority Has Voted To Overturn Roe, According To Leaked Opinion”Roe Overturned, *Reportedly*
Politico just published what it says is an early draft of a majority opinion in which the Court formally overrules Roe v Wade. The reporting suggests that all the Republican-appointed Justices other than Roberts are supporting the opinion and the decision. Alito is the author of the opinion. It’s not clear whether Roberts may support the decision, will write a concurring opinion or won’t support the decision at all. It’s sobering, shocking to see the words, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” which the opinion reportedly contains. And yet, really it’s not surprising at all. This has been an open secret for months. Indeed it was inevitable the moment Amy Coney Barrett joined the Court. Still, seeing it … In a different way what’s more surprising is that a draft opinion leaked. As far as I know that’s totally unprecedented. Certainly I don’t think it’s ever happened in a high profile case. And here we are.
Continue reading “Roe Overturned, *Reportedly*”Where Things Stand: Advocacy Group Finds GOP’s Slew Of Education-Gagging Laws Intentionally Vague
Political observers have been theorizing for some time that the Republican Party’s current war on education and school-related issues is all part of a broader effort to create a political illusion. The right-wing media and right-wing politicians are seemingly using each other to make enough noise about faux cultural grievances that it’s impossible to tell where the noise originated in the first place.
Are kindergarteners in Florida being exposed to LGBTQ or gender identity issues in an age inappropriate way? Are math textbooks in Texas indoctrinating kids to become liberal cyborgs? No, but asking the question gives the question a life of its own.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Advocacy Group Finds GOP’s Slew Of Education-Gagging Laws Intentionally Vague”