The Supreme Court is set to strike down the Roe v. Wade decision, according to a leak of a draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito.
The draft, which was written in February, was obtained by Politico. It was unclear if it has been rewritten or revised.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortions would be left for the states to decide.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito says.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, which is labeled as the “Opinion of the Court”. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives”.
A person familiar with the situation reported that Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett had voted with Alito.
Justices “Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are working on one or more dissents, according to the person,” reported Politico.
In its response to the leaked opinion, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the document is real, but noted it is just a draft and not a final decision.
“Justices circulate draft opinions internally as a routine and essential part of the Court’s confidential deliberative work. Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case,” the court said.
Chief Justice John Roberts announced that he has called upon the Marshal of the Court to investigate the situation.
“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,” he said.
“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,” Roberts added.