Leaked SCOTUS draft opinion reveals the overturning of Roe v. Wade

By: Nicole Lashomb* TRT Editor-in-Chief

Since the beginning of time, it’s conveniently been painted as the “woman’s fault.” It was Eve that ate the forbidden fruit. It was Mary Magdalene — who as history has revealed was one of the most trusted confidants of Christ and a teacher in her own right — that was painted as a prostitute to dismiss any type of relevance and influence she had in the early church. She was just a lost “sinner,” after all. It was Lot’s wife who was a “disobedient woman” who was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back to see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as she and her family were fleeing. There wasn’t even a mention as to what her name was. And throughout the Bible, men are continually exalted and represented with grandeur while women are dismissed, abused and thrown to the wayside other than to serve men or are painted as the “bad seed.” This archaic mentality is the same type of ideology ingrained in rape culture that casts the blame and subsequent physical consequences and psychological warfare of sexual assault on the survivor while the rapists or abusers hold little to no consequence at all. And still, those without a uterus are the ones that continually assault reproductive rights and have the political power to do so — predominantly coming from cisgender men.

Fast-forward to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) leaked draft opinion.

When the leak of a draft opinion written by the majority Justices in the U.S. Supreme Court was sent to Politico early this month, it was clear that the upcoming opinion in a current case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization would effectively overturn Roe v. Wade by the nation’s highest court. Such an outcome is a politically motivated Conservative talking point and promise for the last 50 years since abortion became a federally protected right after a long and contentious legal battle in 1973. In short, the draft opinion is a Conservative gift horse, a dream that appears will be realized by the highest court — despite the Court’s 50 year legal precedent of the right to choose.

Since the leak, pro-choice advocates have come out in full force across every facet of communication — in protest, on social media, in print and digital media and more, rightfully so.

As critical as it is to have the right to choose and to preserve the right to autonomy over one’s own body upheld — as it has been countless times over the last 50 years — the seemingly inevitable outcome of SCOTUS’ final opinion would have dire consequences that threaten the entire integrity of the legal system, should the Justices pro- ceed as written. For the first time in U.S. history, the Justices would play ruling relating to social justice or marginalized struggles of any kind could be determined by legal precedent. In this case, Roe v. Wade is one of the most critical legal precedents in the nation’s history. The court is charged to be apolitical, but with the appointment of three Justices by Trump, the court has become anything but that. Rather it is more akin to running amok like Senators Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Democrat and Liberal politicians are outwardly decrying such an unethical act by the nation’s Highest Court and giving tangible real-life experiences of just how catastrophic this ruling would be. They are focused on how this unprecedented act and political stunt by the highest court could further deteriorate our country, yet Republicans in Congress are fixated on “finding out” what traitor of the court it was who leaked such classified information to the press. Professing to get to the bot-

Read the rest of this story at TheRainbowTimesMass.com personal politics over law, making themselves politicians rather than those that affirm and uphold the law. That action in and of itself would become a precedent. Essentially, it would pave the way for Justices, current and those yet to come, to no longer be required to apply and interpret the law, but rather rewrite it based on personal beliefs, not the wellbeing of those able to bear children. That makes it particularly dire since Justices are not elected by the people but rather are appointed by sitting presidents. In this case, three SCOTUS Justices were appointed by Trump in just 4 years. Not coincidentally, all three make up more than half of the 5 Conservative voices on the Court that would be responsible for its defeat of reproductive rights. As I’m typing this, flashes from multiple scenes of Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale come to mind.

“A stench”

However, long before the court’s leak took place, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by then-President Obama, sounded the alarm on the catastrophic impact that overturning Roe v. Wade would have on the country and on public perception of the court. It was a late December 2021 warning turned into reality.

“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it is possible,” Sotomayor said according to a report published by NBC News (https://nbcnews.to/3Q36Cfb).

Superficially, this case is about abortion rights. However, what is actually at stake is any and every ruling handed down by the Supreme Court throughout the court’s history — especially those that have afforded Americans equal protections under the law. Every come under siege. Marriage equality, LGBTQIA+ rights, healthcare rights, the right to vote (as already seen taking place in many states), especially for women and the Black community, immigrant rights, interracial marriage rights, public school access for people of color — as determined in Brown v. the Board of Education — and countless others would be sitting ducks, set to be dismantled if this brazen and unethical application of the law by the majority justices is acted on and Roe v. Wade reversed in the coming weeks and months. And let’s not forget that two of the Conservative Justices voting against Roe were accused of sexual assault — the latter, Justice Kavanaugh, whose women are still coming forward about his alleged sexually abusive behavior. Regardless of where you stand on the reproductive rights picket line, if Roe is overturned and legal precedent is no longer the accepted method of enforcing and guiding justices to interpret the law, then virtually any law established by SCOTUS can invariably be overturned, even the 2nd Amendment. Whether progressive or conservative, any court opinion can be reversed and will impact any of us.

“I could name any other set of rights, including the Second Amendment by the way,” Sotomayor continued (https://nbcnews.to/3Q36Cfb). “There are many political people who believe the court erred in seeing this is a personal right as opposed to a militia right. If people actually believe that it's all political, how will we survive?

How will the court survive?"

It doesn’t.

Although a leak from within the court is alarming for some, exponentially more alarming is a conservative court that is weaponizing its personal political views on cases that are supposed to

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