Tuesday, May 3, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BREAKING NEWS:
Florida Family Policy Council Responds
to Breaking News from Politico on Leaked
Draft Decision in Dobbs Abortion Case
Supreme Court Draft Decision Holds
That Roe v Wade “Must Be Overturned”
Orlando, FL. – One of Florida’s leading pro-life organizations, the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC) issued the following statement early this morning after the Politico news agency reported on a leaked draft opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The leaked opinion, which dated back to February 10, 2022, appears by many legal observers to be an actual draft of an opinion of the type that are often circulated between justices to respond back and forth to each other. The SCOTUS BLOG stated that “[t]he document leaked to Politico is almost certainly an authentic draft opinion by J. Alito.”
In the draft, the majority opinion is written by Justice Samuel Alito, but it does not reflect the comments or dissents of the other justices. Alito writing for the majority states:
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overturned. The constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely – the due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment…Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.”
Additionally, early this morning CNN reported a source informed that Justice John Roberts “does not want to completely overturn Roe V Wade, meaning he apparently would be dissenting from Alito’s draft opinion, likely with the court’s 3 liberals, sources tell CNN.” Even without Justice Roberts’ support, the court could still have a 5-4 majority opinion reversing Roe.
FFPC President, John Stemberger, made the following statement in response to the breaking news:
“This leak itself is the grossest and highest violation of confidentiality for the Supreme Court. This is an extremely serious breach which severely damages the High Court in terms of the trust between the justices themselves and their staff. Nevertheless, if the draft opinion made public reflects the final majority opinion of the court, this is the moment that we have been working for our entire lives. This would not be the end of the pro-life movement but simply the beginning. We need to show that we can create a world where we can love children and not kill them. That we can create a world where adoption is always the better option. That we can create a world where we care for both women and their children. This is our opportunity to now make the grizzly practice of abortion, like slavery, unthinkable in a civilized, modern society.”
There is some circumstantial evidence that it’s possible that a law clerk attorney for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, named Amit Jain, could be the source of the leak of the draft decision. Matt Wolking, a political advisor, and Republican communications strategist tweeted last night: “As a Yale student, Jain blasted Yale for supporting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. Jain was quoted in a 2017 Politico piece by Josh Gerstein. Today, Gerstein published the draft of the SCOTUS opinion on Roe.”
The safety and security of the Justices and their families are also seriously compromised by this leak. If one of the existing justices were to die before the issuance of the official decision expected in the last week of June, then the court would be split 4-4 and this tie vote would affirm the lower federal appellate court’s decision which struck down Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks. In this scenario, there would be no change in the law.
In the past, we have seen Justices change their minds at the last minute in major decisions. When the Obama Care case was issued it became apparent that Justice John Roberts rewrote his decision and apparently changed his mind sometime right before the decision was issued. Leaders in the pro-life movement are very concerned that the upheaval from the leaked decision could cause one of the five justices in the majority opinion to change his or her mind. This may have been the motive of the leaker. Christian groups around the country last night pleaded with believers to pray for the health and safety of the justices and their families.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a case involving a Mississippi law that limits abortion after 15 weeks. The Supreme Court will address whether all pre-viability abortion limits are unconstitutional.
Additional Resources:
Copy of draft leaked opinion and article published by Politico
https://www.politico.com/news/
Politico article: 10 key passages from Alito’s draft opinion
https://www.politico.com/news/
Twitter “Spaces” live national discussion among pro-life leaders around the country hosted by FFPC President John Stemberger on the breaking news
https://twitter.com/family_
Website by Family Policy Alliance which has information in the states as to what will happen after Roe is reversed. See www.AfterRoe.com for many other helpful resources.
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