The hyperbolic reactions on CNN continued on Tuesday in the aftermath of the Supreme Court opinion draft on Roe v. Wade being leaked to Politico Monday evening, where it appears the highest court in the U.S. is set to overturn the hotly debated decision.
CNN Legal Analyst Laura Coates warned with abortion rights on the potentially going away, then other rights such as gay marriage and interstate travel are now in jeopardy. Coates noted Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the leaked draft opinion, said Roe v. Wade was settled law during his confirmation hearings.
"But we know in Supreme Court confirmation hearings, time and again, one of the reasons that people are losing a lot of faith in the court, they assign a political perception to the confirmation process, is because you’ll say what it takes to get the position to then do what you want later," Coates said about Alito.
"And I cannot believe that I’m sitting here, Jim, in the year of 2022, a right that I was born into that society had had, that my mother had, that my grandmother had, that my great-grandmothers in her lifetime had, that at the stroke of a pen someone can simply say a fundamental right that is within a zone of privacy that the court has said should be hands off for the government, with the stroke of a pen can be taken away," she explained.
"There are a lot of things now on the chopping block. And, Steve, you spoke about an earthquake. Well, a familiar phrase is ‘the slippery slope’ in the Supreme Court. That which you do in one area could extend to others. Well, fundamental rights include interstate travel, include the idea of same sex marriage, include same sex relationships, just to name a few. Now this is essentially gone. What’s next?" she asked.
CNN’s @thelauracoates: If Roe is overturned, SCOTUS might next ban "interstate travel” & "same sex marriage, including same sex relationships” pic.twitter.com/5dCTF9d81Y
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 3, 2022