Alito’s Plan to Repeal the 20th Century
If you are an American with a young daughter, she will grow up in a world without the right to choose when and where she gives birth, and in which nothing restrains a state from declaring her womb its property, with all the invasive authorities that implies.
That is the significance of the draft Supreme Court opinion leaked to Politico, which shows that the right-wing majority on the Court intends to discard Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, landmark precedents guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion. The justices can change their minds before judgments are issued, but their opinions are drafted after they’ve taken an initial vote on the cases themselves. The draft likely reflects the direction of the final decision, even if the scope of that decision changes.
[Mary Ziegler: The conservatives aren’t just ending Roe—they’re delighting in it]
The draft, written by Justice Samuel Alito, is sweeping and radical. There is no need to dwell too long on its legal logic; for the purpose of someday handing down this decision. These justices are doing what they were put there to do.
