Live updates: Leaked draft appears to show SCOTUS is set to overturn Roe v. Wade
- A leaked draft opinion shows the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
- State Democrats have vowed to fight for abortion rights, while Biden urged people to vote for more pro-choice politicians.
Democrats are worried that same-sex marriage and civil rights could be targeted next after SCOTUS leak
Democratic lawmakers are concerned that same-sex marriage and civil rights could be undone next in the wake of a leaked draft opinion showing the Supreme Court is set to overturn abortion rights.
The Supreme Court "isn't just coming for abortion - they're coming for the right to privacy Roe rests on, which includes gay marriage + civil rights," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday.
Legal scholar Laurence Tribe wrote on Twitter that next steps may include a "nationwide abortion ban, followed by a push to roll back rights to contraception, same-sex marriage, sexual privacy, and the full array of textually unenumerated rights long taken for granted."
Biden says it's up to 'voters to elect pro-choice officials' after leaked SCOTUS draft opinion
President Joe Biden urged voters to elect pro-choice lawmakers in the wake of a leaked draft opinion seemingly suggesting that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade.
"We do not know whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court," Biden said in a Tuesday statement.
"If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation's elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman's right to choose," the president added. "And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November."
SCOTUS leaked draft opinion is unprecedented, but details about Court deliberations have been made public before
The leaked draft opinion seemingly showing that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade is certainly unprecedented.
An entire draft opinion has never been leaked like this before.
But details about justices' deliberations have been made public before — for example a 1972 memo about Roe that was leaked to the Washington Post before it became public.
Democrats want to 'codify Roe,' but it's unlikely to succeed
In the wake of the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion, Democrats have quickly organized to codify Roe v. Wade and make it a law.
One thing stopping Democrats' efforts, however, is the Senate filibuster.
Democrats are currently focusing on the Women's Health Protection Act as a way to protect women's' federal right to abortion.
A constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights is nearly impossible to get through
Amending the Constitution is extremely difficult and rare. An amendment protecting abortion rights is nearly impossible.
Abortion rights amendments have previously been proposed by both supporters and opponents.
In the 233-year-long lifespan of the Constitution, it has only been amended 27 times — most recently in 1992 — and would require massive support in Congress and among states.
Legal experts are shocked the drafted decision leaked
Legal experts have expressed shock at the fact that a draft opinion from the Supreme Court was leaked to Politico.
"The fact that it leaked is, to me, the most surprising thing," Harvard Law School professor I. Glenn Cohen told Insider.
Mark Kende, a law professor at Drake University, told Insider that it's "highly disturbing that the opinion was improperly leaked in an unprecedented way, presumably by someone at the Court."
Top Democrats slam SCOTUS justices for 'one of the worst' decisions in history
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed the potential Supreme Court ruling as "one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history."
Their remarks came in response to a leaked draft opinion published by Politico that appears to show the Supreme Court is set to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case.
"If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years – not just on women but on all Americans," Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.
Protesters in support of Roe v. Wade gathered outside Supreme Court
Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, late on Monday night after Politico published a leaked draft opinion suggesting that Roe v. Wade was poised to be overturned.
"I got down here early, right, cause I got home from a long day kicked off shoes my shoes, opened Twitter, saw that Roe v. Wade was trending to be overturned, put my shoes back on, and came right back from east of the river," Rev. Wendy Hamilton, a Democratic congressional candidate from DC, told Insider.
Leaked draft opinion shows SCOTUS set to overturn Roe v. Wade
A leaked draft opinion obtained by Politico appears to show that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that granted women the constitutional right to an abortion.
Politico late Monday published the 98-page initial draft majority opinion, purportedly authored by Justice Samuel Alito who said Roe was "egregiously wrong from the start."
"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," the draft opinion says, labeled as the "Opinion of the Court," according to the report.
The decision — if finalized — would mark a momentous shift in constitutional rights. Over a dozen GOP states have laws that would immediately restrict abortion access if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
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