{"id":60370,"date":"2022-05-04T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T10:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=60370"},"modified":"2022-05-03T13:14:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T17:14:05","slug":"the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/","title":{"rendered":"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation.<\/p>\n

It is just a draft, dated February 10, but it has the approval of five justices\u00a0 (the author Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney-Barrett), which would constitute a majority decision).\u00a0 Three justices are dissenting (Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan).\u00a0 Chief Justice Roberts has evidently not made up his mind.<\/p>\n

Many observers thought the justices, in considering Mississippi\u2019s case to restrict abortion (Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization)<\/i>, would define the abilities of states to regulate abortion, while stopping short of overturning Roe v. Wade<\/em> completely.\u00a0 But this decision throws out the precedent root and branch.<\/p>\n

\n

Justice Alito writes that \u201cRoe<\/i> was egregiously wrong from the start.\u201d\u00a0 In the 67-page decision (98 with appendices), he eviscerates the earlier ruling.\u00a0 (You can read the entire ruling here<\/a>, or go here<\/a> for pertinent extracts.)\u00a0 \u201cWe hold that\u00a0Roe<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Casey<\/i> must be overruled,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIt is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people\u2019s elected representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is just an early draft, and such rulings are often revised, or even reversed.\u00a0 No ruling goes into effect until it is published, which was not expected in this case until July.<\/p>\n

That this document was leaked, though, was virtually unprecedented.\u00a0 (Ironically, the outcome of Roe v. Wade<\/em>\u2013though not the actual opinion\u2013had been leaked to Time Magazine.<\/em>)\u00a0 With very few individuals having access to this kind of material\u2013just the justices and a few of their clerks\u2013the Supreme Court has been considered all but leak-proof.\u00a0 Now, as the Supreme Court news site SCOTUSblog tweeted, \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to overstate the earthquake this will cause inside the Court, in terms of the destruction of trust among the Justices and staff. This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoever leaked it must have wanted to influence the outcome.\u00a0 He or she must have hoped that the draft would create a tidal wave of outrage that would pressure the justices to change their intended ruling.\u00a0 Maybe it would persuade the undecided Justice Roberts, the conservative who does not like to rock the boat, to vote against it.\u00a0 And if only one of the concurring justices could be intimidated enough to change his or her mind, Roe v. Wade would be saved.<\/p>\n

Bringing to bear such pressure would undermine the court\u2019s obligation to rule according to the law.\u00a0 The outrage from the Left is focused on the end result, with no attention to the legal reasoning and constitutional arguments articulated in the document.\u00a0 Progressives are calling once again for packing the court, and protesters<\/a> both outside the Supreme Court building and online are threatening violence (\u201clet\u2019s burn this place down!\u201d).<\/p>\n

Mollie Hemingway says that the Left is engaged in an \u201cinsurrection,\u201d<\/a> with the only difference with the alleged insurrection of\u00a0 January 6 being the branch of government being targeted.<\/p>\n

Another likely reason for the leak is the hope that it will boost Democrats\u2019 chances in the upcoming midterm election.\u00a0 The prospect for Democrats has been dismal, what with inflation, crime, President Biden\u2019s unpopularity, etc., etc.\u00a0 The day before the document was leaked to Politico<\/em>, the New York Times<\/em> published a story<\/a> on how Democrats are desperate to find a way to change the national mood against them.<\/p>\n

The hope is probably that a tidal wave of outrage will divert the attention of the country away from inflation and the threat of nuclear war, changing the focus to the way Republicans are taking away the rights of women.<\/p>\n

In fact, in a formal statement<\/a> on the matter, President Biden has already spun the story in that direction.\u00a0 After condemning the draft ruling and saying that abortion is a \u201cfundamental\u201d right, he concluded,<\/p>\n

If the Court does overturn Roe,\u00a0<\/em>it will fall on our nation\u2019s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman\u2019s right to choose.\u00a0And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November.\u00a0 At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies\u00a0Roe,\u00a0<\/em>which I will work to pass and sign into law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What Democrats want to do now<\/a> is to pass a federal law legalizing abortion nationwide by statute.\u00a0 Getting that through before the midterm elections will require eliminating the filibuster rule in the Senate, an effort that failed earlier, but is being revived by Democrats newly-energized over this issue.<\/p>\n

The draft ruling overturning Roe v. Wade would return the issue to the states.\u00a0 That would mean a rebirth of federalism, as half of the states (an estimated 25) would be likely to impose strict limitations on abortion or ban it altogether.\u00a0 The other half would legalize abortion on demand.<\/p>\n

As a result, we would probably see the rise of abortion tourism, as women in pro-life states would travel to pro-abortion states to abort their children.\u00a0 Also, woke corporations would make sure their operations are in pro-abortion states, and even corporations that are not particularly woke will claim that they cannot recruit the workers they need unless they move out of pro-life states.\u00a0 This will test the resolve of those states, and some of them may back away from the cause for economic reasons.<\/p>\n

Though the pro-life battles will continue and probably even intensify, overturning Roe v. Wade will surely cut down the total number of abortions.\u00a0 So we should hope that the leaked ruling holds.<\/p>\n

Do you think that the leak will have the effect the leaker apparently hopes for?\u00a0 Will it turn around the midterm elections in the Democrats\u2019 favor?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0 Supreme Court Justices (2021) by Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.\u00a0 Public Domain.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":60381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,26,27],"tags":[11908,11905,1913,2139],"class_list":["post-60370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-law","category-life-issues","tag-abortion-controversy","tag-overturning-roe-v-wade","tag-roe-v-wade","tag-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-04T10:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-03T17:14:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2022\/05\/2021_Roberts_Court_Formal_131209_Web2-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/\",\"name\":\"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-04T10:00:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-03T17:14:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade","description":"A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade","og_description":"A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2022-05-04T10:00:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-03T17:14:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2022\/05\/2021_Roberts_Court_Formal_131209_Web2-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/","name":"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-04T10:00:32+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-03T17:14:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"A leaked copy of a draft opinion indicates that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion throughout the nation. What the proposed ruling means and what the leak means.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/05\/the-leaked-reversal-of-roe-v-wade\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Leaked Reversal of Roe v. Wade"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}