By Josh Gerstein | Politico
Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion, which would overturn Roe v. Wade, wages a frontal assault on the reasoning of the landmark 1973 opinion that found a federal constitutional right to abortion.
Alito’s draft is labeled as a proposed majority opinion, though the wording of the court’s ultimate ruling and the line-up of justices who support it could change before final release, expected by late June or early July.
Here are 10 important passages in the draft opinion:
- “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision….”
- “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division. It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
- “In the years prior to [Roe v. Wade], about a third of the States had liberalized their laws, but Roe abruptly ended that political process. It imposed the same highly restrictive regime on the entire Nation, and it effectively struck down the abortion laws of every single State. … [I]t represented the ‘exercise of raw judicial power’… and it sparked a national controversy that has embittered our political culture for a half-century.”
