in the west. plus, american journalist austin tice held captive in syria for almost ten years now. his parents will join us to tell us what they just told president biden. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start today with our politics lead and the seismic health, political, and legal news. a document obtained by politico and confirmed as authentic by the u.s. supreme court reveals that the highest court in the land appears poised to overturn roe v. wade. nearly 50 years after that case legalized abortion in the united states. in this draft opinion, five conservative justices, samuel alito, clarence thomas, neil gorsuch, brett kavanaugh, and amy coney barrett argue in favor of overturning roe v. wade s holding of a woman s federal constitutional right to an abortion. the u.s. supreme court underlined in a statement today that this document is not a final decision by the court or a final position by any justice. it was circulated amongst the court at the beginning
congress to take action without republican support. we have fox team coverage on the breaking news this morning. brooke is standing by with the blowback. carley: we began with doug in washington. good morning, this is a leak the likes of which may be unprecedented for the supreme court. there have been protest for and against outside the court pretty much all night long. we may see this and probably will see this gather steam through the morning. this draft majority opinion obtained by political could always change because it is a draft, but for now the wording is very clear. just a samuel alito referring to 1973 decision roe vs. wade, roe was egregiously wrong from the start. the reasoning is exceptionally weak and the decision has had damaging consequences. far from bringing about national settlement of the abortion issue, roe versus casey with a debate and deepen division. the reaction has been swift from both sides of the debate. this is bittersweet. on the one hand
getting ready. there was a ton of reaction last night. dana: the breach at the supreme court sending shock waves through washington the draft opinion reported by politico shows the majority of the justices voting in favor of mississippi on its 15-week abortion ban and overturning roe in the process. bill: the unconfirmed leak is seen as an attempt to see one of the judges to change the vote. keep in mind draft opinions circulate and change. nothing is final until it is signed. apparently this was written the first part of february. according to many, however, the damage to the highest court in america, the damage to that court has been done. this is an utter disgrace in terms of how it was released. this thing has been brought about as a result of an unscrupulous person trying to subvert 235 years of tradition. a matter of time. all these institutions will collapse. a grave assault on the supreme court. this is just so outrageous that this draft opinion was leaked
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
authentic, but not final, obviously. the president s already talked about this in a more informal setting. this is before the flight to alabama. concerns me a great deal that we re going to, after 50 years, decide a woman does not have a right to choose within the limits of the supreme court decision. if this decision holds, it s really quite a radical decision. we re going to have a lot more on this including new reaction and reporting from capitol hill and analysis on where this fight goes from here. i m hallie jackson and it s good to be back with you here in washington. i want to bring in josh letterman who is in alabama with the president who s set to speak any minute now after touring a weapons factory there. we ve heard from the president on this potential seismic shift as we ve called it. it is entirely possible as the president takes a stage that he could maybe bring it up again although it seems unlikely given he took some questions about this earlier today. t