Shocking SCOTUS leak shows abortion rights overturned under draft opinion from Justice Alito

"It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives," the draft opinion reads.

A draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito shows that the Supreme Court could overturn abortion rights in the U.S., essentially nullifying the landmark Roe v. Wade, which Alito called “egregiously wrong from the start.” The document, obtained by Politico, spans 98 pages and was apparently drafted in February. It marks an unprecedented leak for the nation’s highest court. Per Politico, “no draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending.”

A source told Politico that Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, all voted in agreement with Alito in a conference following oral arguments in December. The conservative justices have found zero support from their liberal counterparts. That conference and those oral arguments stem from a Mississippi case brought before the Supreme Court challenging the state’s law that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has yet to be decided — and this window into some of the Justices’ thinking is absolutely alarming.

This is a developing news story.

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Listen to Eli Mystal talk with Markos Moulitsas and KErry Eleveld about the Supreme Court and abortion laws in the Red States

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Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 1:41:08 AM +00:00 · Laura Clawson

Alito's draft opinion explicitly criticizes Lawrence v. Texas (legalizing sodomy) and Obergefell v. Hodges (legalizing same-sex marriage). He says that, like abortion, these decisions protect phony rights that are not "deeply rooted in history." https://t.co/4690k0KG1F pic.twitter.com/urF7A02INU

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) May 3, 2022

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 1:47:43 AM +00:00 · kos

Today, EMILY’s List and NARAL announced $150 million campaign to center abortion rights in the 2022 mid-term elections. After this announcement, might need to be $300 million. 

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 1:54:27 AM +00:00 · Barbara Morrill

13 states have so-called trigger laws that would automatically ban practically all abortions if SCOTUS overturns Roe.

They are: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) May 3, 2022

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 2:08:30 AM +00:00 · Laura Clawson

Right now: Barricades are up around the Supreme Court building, just minutes after reports from Politico were leaked indicating SCOTUS has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. pic.twitter.com/LxR9rbs6TF

— Cami Mondeaux (@cami_mondeaux) May 3, 2022

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 2:28:16 AM +00:00 · kos

Requiring civil rights to be “deeply rooted in history” is a great way to say “if you didn’t always have civil rights, then you should never have them.”

— Steve Kenson (@SKenson) May 3, 2022

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 2:29:11 AM +00:00 · kos

Republican senators say the leaked #SCOTUS memo means conservatives are under attack ... pic.twitter.com/arVgok1z9m

— Azi™️ (@Azi) May 3, 2022

Wait, why aren’t they celebrating? If the draft opinion said they were preserving Roe rights, I wouldn’t give a shit who leaked it. I’d be celebrating! Yet here they are, with their identical talking points. Are they afraid of being the dog that caught the car? 

Tuesday, May 3, 2022 · 2:51:16 AM +00:00 · kos

The leak definitely allows GOPers to deflect on the substance, but we get to organize around it, and they'll have to actually deal with the substance next month, and we've gotten a whole month head start in organizing at a time when energy levels seemed bleh.

You guys know the stakes, you know what we need to do. Organize, organize, organize. And start by making sure everyone knows what’s happening, and what the stakes are this November.