In the United States, the site Politico ensures Monday evening to have had access to an internal document written by the judge of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito. This is a text dated February 10 in which the conservative jurist engages, according to the site, in a “absolute and inflexible repudiation” of the institution’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade who had legalized the right to abortion in the country.
“We consider Roe to be canceled. It’s time to heed the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”writes Mr. Alito. “We can only do our job, which is to interpret the law. The constitution does not give a right to abortion.says the text again.
This working document may change by the summer, specifies Politico. What he suggests is that banning abortion altogether would then be up to each state individually. Some states led by Republicans, such as Texas or Oklahoma, have already implemented particularly restrictive legislation concerning the voluntary termination of pregnancy.
“Such an outcome would not be a surprise. Alito and Judge Clarence Thomas have long been clear that they believe Roe should be overturned. In recent years, they have been joined by three judges in agreement with them and appointed by Trump”summarizes the Los Angeles Times. Le Washington Post further notes that “That finding seemed a possibility as early as December when the Court considered a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks”.
Unpublished leak
A sign that this is an extremely sensitive subject, the New York Times notes that the leak of such a document is “unprecedented in the modern history of the Court”. If the final decision is in line with this draft, the daily predicts “a seismic shift in American law and American policy, months before a midterm election that will decide who controls the Capitol.”
The institution has only a minority of progressive judges. Donald Trump was able to place three conservative judges during his term. In early 2016, Barack Obama was prevented from naming his candidate after the death of Antonin Scalia by the Republican-majority Senate, arguing that the proximity of a presidential election made it necessary to be patient and wait for the verdict of the polls. Four years later, the same Republican Senate fast-tracked the nomination process to let Mr Trump pick a conservative replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died weeks before the 2020 election.
The Court therefore now has six out of nine judges appointed by a Republican administration. Five of those justices would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, watch CNNpointing out that the sixth, John Roberts, did not want “overturn completely” the 1973 decision. He would, however, be prepared to enforce the Mississippi law submitted to the Court. “Current law prevents the government from interfering with a woman’s choice to terminate a pregnancy before 23 weeks”remember CNN.
Le Milwaukee Journal Sentinel finds that almost all abortions would become illegal in Wisconsin if the Court went through with its idea. It is then a law of the 19th century, prohibiting doctors from performing an abortion except in case of danger for the mother, which would again become the norm.