right to an abortion. and to see those words, it s very stark, i think, to read them. it is stunning when you first do so. it s surprising, i think torsion see it in this format, that looks like a final supreme court opinion. but i do think, john, if you step back and you think about the decades-long effort by conservatives and conservative legal activists, toed edbuild their numbers on the court. you think about the fact that former president donald trump managed to get nominations and confirmations of very conservative justices to the supreme court. in part, because of the hubris of senators mcconnell, you could see this is a long time coming. it s a culmination as you say decades in the making that accelerated over the years and the impact is very, very real. by some estimates, we can put up a map, i think, so people can see, if this draft opinion becomes the real opinion, this means that the states seen in red there would almost immediately outlaw or severely restrict a
to appeal to people, respecting them for their work. and let s consider what this republican controlled court does not respect, they do not respect the in effect republican controlled court the wrote roe v. wade, it was a 72 decision 49 years ago, and five of the deciding justices in favor of roe v. wade, where republican appointed supreme court justices. in the last week or so, there s been a very intense discussion especially in the world of twitter about how much the democratic party has moved to the left in recent years or how much the republican party has moved to the right, there is no better demonstration about the extreme direction towards the right that the republican party is moved, when you look at the five republican appointed justices in 1973, who voted for roe v. wade in a total of seven justices. and then you see these five tonight, possibly six in the end put five as of tonight, voting to repeal it completely. and, insulting as much as they possibly can just
and two new omicron variants found in more than a dozen states, as covid cases begin to rise once again. good morning. and welcome to way too early, on this tuesday, may 3rd. i m jonathan lemire. in a potentially ground-breaking shift in american constitutional law, the supreme court appears poised to strike down the landmark roe v. wade decision. according to a leaked draft opinion, published last night, by politico, a majority of the supreme court is prepared to overturn the federal right to abortion. the leak of the 98-page document is unprecedented in the court s modern history. the draft opinion was reportedly offered by justice samuel alito, and circulated back in february. alito writes in part this. ro ex was egregiously wrong from the start. its reasoning was exceptionally weak and the decision has had damaging consequences. it is time to heed the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people s elected representatives. nbc news has not obtained or
abortion, the moment of supreme court would rule against roe. half the country has anti-abortion republican state legislatures and governors who might do the same. president biden made his comments at joint base andrews on his way to alabama in the last hour. the idea that concerns me a great deal that we re going to, after 50 years, a woman does not have a right to choose within the limits of the supreme court decision is number one. even more equally profound is the rationale used. it will mean every other decision regarding privacy is thrown into question. the rationale of the decision as released, were it to be sustained, a whole range of rights are in question, a whole range of rights. the idea with letting the states make those decisions would be a fundamental shift in what we have done. it goes far beyond, in my view, if it becomes a law and if what is written is what remains, it goes far beyond the concern of whether or not there s the right to choose. if this decis
every lawmaker in washington on the spot today, is the first draft of a majority opinion obtained exclusively by politico written back in february in the case before the court over mississippi s abortion ban. the opinion is described by politico like this, quote, a full throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision, which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision, planned parenthood versus casey that largely maintained that right. it reads in part, quote, 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. in a statement, chief justice john roberts confirmed the authenticity of the document while also noting that it is not the final decision by the court. judges can and do change their votes before ruling is