Phone. talk what more do we know about what they have decided? reporter: yeah, so, anderson, i mean, this is just an absolutely stunning report. and if it s true, as politico say, this would be a stunning breach of court confidentiality. politico says that it has obtained this draft majority opinion written by justice samuel alito overturning rho v wade saying there is no constitutional right to abortion. again, this is just a draft opinion. we re expecting a final opinion from this court sometime in the next eight weeks. they usually wrap up their term at the end of june, and we ve been bracing for a decision. this draft has reportedly been leaked to politico. the justice apparently wrote in the 98-page opinion that there was no constitutional right to abortion. the constitution, in his words, makes no reference to abortion,
July. so, it s fair to say that this is a situation that is unresolved at this point, and i can t promise you that various things may not change between now and late june. josh, in terms of the substance of this opinion, as written, i get news draft the majority opinion. with the caveat that this is a historically unprecedented lead of what appears to be a draft majority opinion from the court before any ruling was issued, with the caveat you just described as if this might go through any changes, maybe use substantial changes before we see the ruling from the court is published later this year. with all those caveats intact, look at justice leader wrote here, how does this comport with expectations in this case? obviously, as you are just describing, the leanings of the justices on this matter. i think, to realize minded observers were clear even before oral arguments, and certainly clear thereafter. there is also still common wisdom, that the justices would try to soft pedal this a
Thanks for coming on tonight, after such short notice, i know that you did know four minutes ago you wouldn t be on tv talk to me about this. no problem, rachel, happy to join you. i m not going to pressure you, of course, on your sourcing here. but i want to press you on your confidence in your sourcing. obviously, this is a very unusual, if not completely historically unprecedented leak. a document that purports to be the draft majority opinion of the supreme court, before they have issued any such ruling. can you tell us about your confidence in the authenticity of the document? well, we re very confidence in the authenticity of this draft majority opinion rachel both in the way that we obtained, it and other information that we got that supports its authenticity, and makes us believe, it was circulated in the court as a first draft by justice alito, in february, dated
Our understanding is that, you know, most of his republican colleagues want to go ahead and take down roe v. wade. that said, where the beginning of may here, and his final decision likely won t be published until the end of june, perhaps, even the beginning of july. so, it s fair to say that this is a situation that is unresolved at this point, and i can t promise you that various things may not change between now and late june. josh, in terms of the substance of this opinion, as written, i get news draft the majority opinion. with the caveat that this is a historically unprecedented lead of what appears to be a draft majority opinion from the court before any ruling was issued, with the caveat you just described as if this might go through any changes, maybe use substantial changes before we see the ruling from the court is published later this year. with all those caveats intact, look at justice leader wrote here, how does this comport with expectations in this case?
Article tonight and part of it we know from covering so many consequential supreme court decisions over time, is there are orth arguments that happen in oral arguments that happen in front of the justices, and we ve all heard about them, and maybe on a class trip we have heard them in person, and we know the oral arguments, after they happen, the way the process usually work, the justices get together and they hold effectively, preliminary votes, think i m going to go yes, i think i m going to go no, and based on what they cobble together as what they believe is the majority in the case, and a justice is assigned to write a draft majority opinion. now, that draft majority opinion is just a draft. it will likely change. we expect, just like in any kind of work, something you write months before goes through a number of iterative processes