Politico says the opinion piece indicating the Supreme Court is set to overturn 1973 Roe v. Wade was obtained from an unnamed source along with authenticating documents—is signed by conservative Justice Samuel Alito.
The opinion calls Roe “egregiously wrong” and says both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey—a 1992 case that altered Roe but upheld abortion rights—“must be overruled,” arguing the Constitution doesn’t guarantee a right to abortion access and individual states can decide on their own whether to permit the procedure.
The draft doesn’t note which justices signed onto the draft opinion, but an unnamed person familiar with the decision told Politico at least four other conservative judges sided with Alito’s argument: Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas.
According to Politico, the court’s three liberal justices will draft at least one dissent, and Chief Justice John Roberts’ status is not clear.
The opinion was written, Politico reported, about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, The Associated Press reported.
According to The New York Times, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote the leaked draft opinion in February, calling Roe wrongly decided and maintaining that the issue should be decided by politicians, not the courts.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito wrote in the 98-page document, labeled the “Opinion of the Court,” according to Politico.
The document, labeled as a first draft of the majority opinion, includes a notation that it was circulated among the justices on Feb. 10. If the Alito draft is adopted, it would rule in favor of Mississippi in the closely watched case over that state’s attempt to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
A Supreme Court spokesperson declined to comment or make another representative of the court available to answer questions about the draft document.
