The landmark Roe v. The leak of a draft resolution overturning the Wade abortion rights decision has sparked comments that a weighty institution is cracking under pressure. The reason for these comments is that the conservative majority, which is increasingly making themselves felt, is working to overturn laws on many important issues.
The court is losing its hard-earned reputation. Announcing the draft was the latest in a series of controversies that have trapped the tribunal, which is intended to be an impartial body.
Conservative judge Clarence Thomas has come under criticism from Democrats for the role of his Republican wife, Ginni Thomas, who supports former President Donald Trump, in their efforts to nullify Trump’s 2020 election defeat.
Judge Neil Gorsuch, one of the three judges to form a conservative majority in the court appointed by Trump, was scrutinized in January when he was the only person in the courtroom not wearing a face mask during the rise of the Omicron variant of the Corona virus. The court has also been slow to confirm, after news of liberal Judge Stephen Breyer’s planned retirement surfaced in January.
Lawyers and academics say the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion that will set an almost 50-year precedent upside down has heightened the sense that all is not well in the court’s marble corridors.
The identity of the person who leaked the draft was not disclosed. Relatively few people have access to such draft opinions, including the clerks of the nine judges, the court administrative staff, and the judges themselves.
Announcing that he had launched an internal investigation yesterday, Supreme Court President John Roberts said, “Even though this betrayal of the court’s secrecy aims to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed.”
Americans are used to leaks from officials with different goals in the White House and Congress; however, the Constitutional Court managed to stay exempt from such actions. The judges have repeatedly reiterated that they have been above politics for years and are friends with each other despite ideological differences.
The Constitutional Court is expected to not only finalize the abortion decision by the end of June, but also decide on a case that gives conservative judges a chance to greatly expand their gun rights. The court also took on a case that gave conservative judges an opportunity to end policies used by universities to increase black and Hispanic students.
In January, the conservative majority blocked Democrat President Joe Biden’s nationwide COVID-19 vaccine or testing requirement for large businesses, and last year allowed the state of Texas to enforce its Republican-backed abortion ban after nearly six weeks of pregnancy, in Roe v. It paved the way for the enforcement of a law that disabled Wade.
Some Republicans blamed the political left for leaking the draft without providing evidence. However, experts point out that no penal code specifically prohibits the leaking of a draft judicial opinion. However, other federal laws regarding theft of things and property of value to the U.S. government may be enforced. Government leaks are rarely prosecuted unless they contain classified information concerning national security. The leaker may face other consequences, including losing their job if detected.
Could the right to abortion become law in the Senate?
On the other hand, the leak caused new calls among the progressive Democrats of Congress to remove the ‘filibuster’ practice known as the lectern occupation in the Senate.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on Twitter, “Congress must NOW pass the law codifying Roe v. Wade as this country’s law. And if there isn’t 60 votes in the Senate to do so, which isn’t, it’s filibuster to pass the bill by 50 votes.” “We have to end it,” he said.
“This is the time to do it,” Democratic House of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. But Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and pro-abortion-right politicians and organizations are facing challenges in easing the Senate occupation practice.
Since the beginning of President Joe Biden’s administration, Democrats have sought to repeal, or at least replace, the long-standing filibuster rule that requires at least 60 votes in the 100-member legislature to advance most of the legislation.
This attempt has so far been unsuccessful. Moreover, it could backfire for Democrats as well, as Republicans have a chance to win a majority of the Senate in the November 8 election. Removing the filibuster app now could provide Republicans with a credible way to set new limits on abortion should they win Congress and the White House.
Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Cinema last January sided with 50 Republican senators against ending filibuster so voting rights reforms could pass the Senate.
Manchin also continued his opposition to the filibuster amendment yesterday to legalize abortion through legislation. “Occupying the pulpit is the only protection we have in a democracy,” Manchin, who is against abortion rights, told reporters.
Kyrsten Cinema, one of the signatories of a bill protecting abortion services, argued in an opinion piece in the Washington Post last year that filibuster encourages “modesty”. The cinema has not yet made a statement on the subject.
But without Manchin and Cinema, it’s impossible for the Democrats to replace the filibuster and pass the abortion law in the current Senate.