The leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that foreshadowed the overturning of abortion rights last month resembles Friday’s final decision, signaling that the justices did not buckle under weeks of public pressure.
Despite a national outcry of protests, marches, and an alleged attempted assassination against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization very closely resembled the draft opinion leaked by Politico on May 2.
“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. … That is what the Constitution and the rule of law demand,” Alito wrote in the draft and the final decision on Friday.
The draft opinion signaled Friday’s likely outcome that Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Kavanaugh, appointees of former President Donald Trump, would join Justices Clarence Thomas and Alito to upend 50 years of precedent regarding abortion access and allow states to create laws banning or severely limiting abortion.
via joemiller