The document, published by Politico, suggests the country’s top court is poised to overturn the 1973 decision that legalised abortion nationwide. If the court strikes down the Roe v Wade ruling, individual states would be allowed to ban abortion if they wish.
The majority of the judges on the Supreme Court are anti-abortion figures, along with three judges appointed by former US President Trump.
The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO.
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.
“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.”
If the court strikes down the Roe v Wade ruling, individual states would be allowed to ban abortion if they wish. It is expected abortion could then be banned in almost half of US states.
Supreme Court Judge John Robert said the document does not reflect the final decision of the members.
What happened during the Trump era?
It is known that 3 judges in the 9-member Supreme Court have liberal and 6 judges have conservative tendencies. According to the constitution, these 9 judges remain in office until they die or retire of their own accord.
To be elected as a judge, it is sufficient to be nominated by the President of the USA and to get Senate approval after detailed Senate inquiry processes. Because of this selection process, the appointment of judges is purely political. Judges are appointed in line with their thoughts and past attitudes on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and religious freedoms that separate liberals and conservatives.
Since the Senate and the presidency were Republicans for four years during the Trump era, Trump appointed three very young and very conservative judges to the court who will serve at least 40 years, so that even if they lose all the upcoming Congress and presidential elections, the Republicans can rule the USA by Supreme Court decisions. The door has been opened for a period in which many of the rights gained through judges and moderate conservative judges will be jeopardized.
‘Conservatives vs Democrats’
Abortion is one of the major topics of discussion between Democrats and Republicans in the US. The media emphasize that a decision to be announced by the Supreme Court in this direction will have an earthquake effect in the country and the political division will increase even more.
After the document turned out to be true, US President Joe Biden said in a statement that his administration is determined to protect the right to abortion. Biden said that the possible decision could have repercussions that will affect other personal freedoms such as same-sex marriage and mean a fundamental change for the American legal system.
Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republican Party in the US Senate, said that liberals were behind the leak. McConnel argued that an attempt was made to put pressure on the decision by creating a political storm.
The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said that some conservative judges in the Supreme Court were acting against the US Constitution by using the term “far-right” for them.
Democrats are calling the decision “the biggest rights restriction in 50 years.”
Thousands of people marched
From New York on the east coast of the country to Los Angeles on the west coast, thousands of people took to the streets to defend the right to abortion and protested the possible cancellation of the Supreme Court.
Names such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, comedian Amy Schumer, and famous actress Cynthia Nixon attended the demonstrations.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said, “I am here because I am angry, and I am here because the United States Congress can change all of this. Angry, but committed. … Understand this: I have seen the world where abortion is illegal, and we are not going back.”