(PatriotWise.com)- There have been a lot of intense reactions in the day since a draft of an apparent Supreme Court decision that would essentially overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the press.
One of those reactions came in the form of a joint statement released by the two Democratic leaders of Congress — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The leak was of a draft version of the majority opinion in the Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case coming out of Mississippi. The draft indicated the highest court was leaning toward overturning not just Roe v. Wade but Planned Parenthood v. Casey, two landmark cases that ensure a women’s right to abortion in the U.S.
In response, the Democratic leaders’ statement read:
“If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past 50 years — not just on women but on all Americans. The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v. Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decision in modern history.
“Several of these conservative Justices, who are in no way accountable to the American people, have lied to the U.S. Senate, ripped up the Constitution and defiled both precedent and the Supreme Court’s reputation.”
The statement further said that “tens of millions of women” would be the ones to pay for this decision, as their constitutional right to bodily autonomy would be taken away from them. It continued:
“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.”
One of the immediate reactions to the draft being leaked was Democrats calling for a quick end to the Senate filibuster rule, which requires 60 Senators to vote in favor of a bill for it to pass. If this were to happen, Democrats might be able to pass through a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade into law without any Republican support.
Doing so would effectively render the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe case moot, since federal law would then protect a woman’s right to abortion.
On the flip side, conservative Republican rejoiced at the report. Some quickly urged the Supreme Court justices not to cave to public pressure that seeks to influence them to change their decision.
A final vote in the case at hand has not been done yet, as the leaked report was just a draft of the majority decision. In other words, justices can still change their mind before the decision is officially made public.
As Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz tweeted:
“If this report is true, this is nothing short of a massive victory for life and will save the lives of millions of innocent babies. But while I continue to wait for the Supreme Court’s ultimate opinion, I am appalled by the shocking breach of trust posed by this leak.
“This is a blatant attempt to intimidate the Court through public pressure rather than reasoned argument. I hope my fellow former clerks and the entire legal community will join me in denouncing this egregious breach of trust.”
