Leaked Roe v. Wade draft opinion: What are Biden, Roberts, others saying about it?

A draft opinion of a Supreme Court ruling in a Mississippi abortion access case posted by the website Politico, suggests the court could be ready to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case.

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The leaked opinion says at least five justices have indicated they would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, a law that allows a woman to get an abortion in most cases.

The news sparked an outcry from both Democrats and Republicans. It also prompted both pro-choice and anti-abortion supporters to gather outside the Supreme Court building.

Here is what some are saying about the leaked opinion:

President Joe Biden: “If the court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Biden said. “And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November. At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.”

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts: “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.

“We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce – permanent employees and law clerks alike – intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.

“I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-New York), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D-California), in a joint statement: “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.”

Former first lady and Sen. Hillary Clinton: “Not surprising. But still outrageous. This decision is a direct assault on the dignity, rights, & lives of women, not to mention decades of settled law. It will kill and subjugate women even as a vast majority of Americans think abortion should be legal. What an utter disgrace.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington): “If this is true, women will be forced to remain pregnant when they don’t want to be. Extreme politicians will control patients’ most personal decisions. And extreme Republicans will have eliminated a fundamental right an entire generation of women have known their whole lives.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii): “Women in this country will soon wake up and realize they no longer have control over their own bodies. Alito’s fervent wish is about to come true, thanks to the Trump Justices. Republicans have sabotaged the Court—and women across the country are about to pay the price.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the state will propose an amendment to “enshrine the right to choose” in the state’s constitution.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader, R-Kentucky): “Last night’s stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court,” McConnell said in a statement Tuesday. “By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah): “Deliberation and the maintenance of decorum and confidentiality are vital to the free operation of justices and the judicial system. To violate an understanding that has held for the entire modern history of the Court — seeking to place outside political pressure on the Court and the justices themselves — is dangerous, despicable and damaging.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia): “This is the best news of our lifetime. … This is a great victory. This is a great victory for God.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): “This is nothing short of a massive victory for life and will save the lives of millions of innocent babies.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine): “If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office. Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”

SCOTUS Blog: “It’s 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.”

Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina): “In America, the radical Left is hell-bent on reshaping institutions that have stood in the way of the outcomes they desire. They want to pack the Supreme Court to change the current conservative nature of the Court which was achieved through the democratic process.”

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