Will it happen today?
Some expected the Supreme Court to release its opinion last week on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that declared abortion a constitutionally protected right for Americans. But that never happened.
Although the court’s calendar did not have another day on which the release of opinions was scheduled, the high court on Thursday updated its calendar to indicate decisions would be handed down on Monday or Wednesday.
In all, the court has still nearly 30 opinions to be delivered within the next month before it takes its traditional summer break.
Last month, a draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to Politico. In the 98-page majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes, a move that would invalidate the landmark 1973 decision that declared abortion a constitutional right.
There are several theories about why the opinion was leaked.
“I think it’s plainly an attempt by the Left to try and change the outcome in this case and corrupt the process, and the court must not allow that to happen,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said on Fox News.
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz later proffered a theory.
“I have a theory, and it’s only a theory,” Dershowitz said on Fox News. “I think this was leaked by a liberal law clerk who was trying to change the outcome of the case, either by putting pressure on some of the justices to change their mind, or by getting Congress to pack the court even before June, which is very unlikely, or to get Congress to pass a national right-to-abortion law, which would apply to all the states, and that would have to come to the Supreme Court to see whether that could be upheld under the Commerce Clause.”
“But I think this is real, and … my theory is that it was leaked by somebody who wants to change the outcome,” the attorney said. “Look, I’ve been watching Supreme Court for 55 years. And this has all the hallmarks of reality and it does not have the hallmark of a decision that’s likely to be changed. Maybe Chief Justice Roberts will go with the minority, but I think they seem to have five votes at this point to overrule Roe vs. Wade.”