Roe v. Wade: Overturned?

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Eric Thorndyke, Writer

Breaking: A Supreme Court draft opinion suggests that a majority of Justices have thrown their support behind a decision overturning Roe v. Wade. See the report from the Associated Press here.

This opinion, penned by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, argues that “ Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have [inflamed] debate and deepened division.” Four of the court’s other conservative Justices have reportedly voted with Alito on the matter.

In the first draft of the majority opinion from February of this year, Alito argues that the United States Supreme Court had no authority to make a decision on the matter, as abortion rights are not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. The rest of the 98-page document can be found here.

Still, the decision is not yet certain. The draft leaked to Politico was the first draft, and Justices will sometimes change their opinion based on new drafts or ‘vote-trading’. However, given that the courts three liberal Justices and Chief Justice John Roberts are already expected to not vote in favor of overturning the precedent, it is unclear if any of the other Justices would consider changing their vote. Of the other five conservative Justices, it is most likely that either Neil Gorsuch or Brett Kavanaugh would change their vote on the matter, if any were to.

The court’s final decision will not be released for about another two months, when it becomes public. Until then, most predictions will be nothing more than guesses.