Late Monday night news broke that the United States Supreme Court plans to return abortion regulation to the states after POLITICO reported on a leaked draft of an opinion for Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
The legal world immediately expressed shock over the historic breach and now Republican Senator Josh Hawley argues there's no turning back.
No turning back now. Roe must be overruled
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) May 3, 2022
This is correct https://t.co/5THDVL2BOL
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) May 3, 2022
The leak of the draft opinion sets up a terrible situation for the Justices. Drafts and votes often change before final opinions are released. There's no doubt the left will heavily pressure the Justices who planned to vote in favor of returning abortion regulation to the states to change their votes ahead of a final decision. After all, many on the left praised the leak, which is an unprecedented attack on the institution and a horrific breach of trust.
Is a brave clerk taking this unpredecented step of leaking a draft opinion to warn the country what's coming in a last-ditch Hail Mary attempt to see if the public response might cause the Court to reconsider?
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) May 3, 2022
Meanwhile, the talking points on the leak have already gone out. Democrats were quite organized and fast in their response. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer immediately launched an attack on the Justices after the draft opinion was published.
“The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v. Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history," Pelosi and Schumer released in a statement. “The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has now completely devolved into the party of Trump. Every Republican Senator who supported Senator McConnell and voted for Trump Justices pretending that this day would never come will now have to explain themselves to the American people.”
