“Yesterday’s unprecedented leak is an attempt to severely damage the Supreme Court,” House Republican leaders wrote in a joint statement, asserting without evidence that the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade obtained by Politico was part of a “clearly coordinated campaign to intimidate and obstruct the Justices of the United States Supreme Court.”
Almost as an afterthought, the statement concluded that the leaders were praying “for a decision that protects our most basic and precious right, the right to life.”
Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade
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- Republicans decry leak but refrain from publicly cheering Roe’s demise.
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Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader who is normally quick to claim credit for the critical role he played in installing the conservative majority at the Supreme Court, was making no victory laps on Tuesday during his speech on the Senate floor.
Instead, he accused Democrats of smearing the justices and attempting to intimidate them by mobilizing “politicians, pundits, bullies and mobs.” The end of Roe seemed beside the point of his remarks.
The reactions suggested that at least some Republicans were wary of prompting a political backlash among voters to a ruling that is certain to thrill their conservative core supporters but could alienate the broad swath of Americans who support at least some form of abortion rights.
Democrats in Washington have few options left. Mr. McConnell’s 2016 blockade of President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick B. Garland, and the rapid replacement of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Justice Amy Coney Barrett just days before the 2020 election ushered in a six-justice conservative bloc that likely will not be dislodged for years.
The draft decision written by Justice Samuel Alito would send the question of abortion rights to state legislatures, and in the populous Northeast and West Coast, abortion would likely remain legal.