WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court is poised to strike down the right to abortion in the United States, according to a leaked draft of a majority opinion that would shred nearly 50 years of constitutional protections.
The draft opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito and has been circulating inside the conservative-dominated court since February, the news outlet Politico reported.
The leak of a draft opinion while a case is still pending is an extraordinary breach of Supreme Court secrecy.
The 98-page draft majority opinion calls the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision enshrining the right to abortion “egregiously wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court” and published on Politico’s website. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
In Roe v. Wade, the nation’s highest court held that access to abortion is a woman’s constitutional right.
In a 1992 ruling, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, which is typically around 22 to 24 weeks of gestation.
“Abortion presents a profound moral question,” Alito wrote. “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion.
“The inescapable conclusion is that a right to an abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions,” he said.
Reproductive rights have been increasingly under threat in the United States in recent months as Republican-led states move to tighten restrictions with some seeking to ban all abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.
Right-wing politicians have launched an assault on abortion, with Democrats, led by President Joe Biden, fighting back to protect access to the procedure.
In December, hearing oral arguments about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared inclined to not only uphold the law but to toss out Roe v. Wade.
The nine-member court, dominated 6-3 by conservatives following the nomination of three justices by former president Donald Trump, is expected to issue a decision in the Mississippi case by June.
Politico, citing a person familiar with the court’s deliberations, said four other conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — had voted with Alito, the author of the first draft of the majority opinion.
It said the three liberal justices on the court were working on a dissent and it was unknown how Chief Justice John Roberts would ultimately vote.
Politico stressed that the document it obtained is a draft and justices do sometimes change their votes before a final ruling.
The leak of a draft opinion is extraordinary while a case is still being decided. Politico said it was the first time in modern history a draft opinion had been disclosed publicly.
“This is the equivalent of the Pentagon Papers leak, but at the Supreme Court,” said Neil Katyal, who served as solicitor general under president Barack Obama, in a reference to the leaked documents outlining US involvement in Vietnam.
“I’m pretty sure there has never ever been such a leak.”
Asked about the draft being circulated, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said: “The Court has no comment.”
The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, has said that 26 states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion if the Roe is overturned.
Liberal states that decide to do so could still legally allow abortion even if the court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Planned Parenthood, which operates abortion clinics around the country, said the draft opinion is “outrageous” but cautioned that it “is not final.”
“While abortion is still legal, tonight’s report makes clear that our deepest fears are coming true,” it added. “We have reached a crisis moment for abortion access.”
A number of Democratic lawmakers took to Twitter to express concern about the threat to abortion rights.
“An extremist Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and impose its far-right, unpopular views on the entire country,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Josh Hawley, a conservative Republican senator from Missouri, welcomed the Politico report.
“If this is the Court’s opinion, it’s a heck of an opinion,” Hawley said. “Voluminously researched, tightly argued, and morally powerful.”
Leaked draft shows US court set to strike down abortion rights: Politico
https://arab.news/mymqb
Leaked draft shows US court set to strike down abortion rights: Politico
- Draft opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito and has been circulating inside the conservative-dominated court since February
Italy’s Meloni: Recognizing Palestinian state before it is established may be ‘counterproductive’
- ‘I am very much in favor of the State of Palestine but I am not in favor of recognizing it prior to establishing it’
- France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September draws condemnation from Israel and the US
“I am very much in favor of the State of Palestine but I am not in favor of recognizing it prior to establishing it,” Meloni told Italian daily La Repubblica.
“If something that doesn’t exist is recognized on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn’t,” Meloni added.
France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September drew condemnation from Israel and the United States, amid the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. On Friday, Italy’s foreign minister said recognition of a Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with recognition of Israel by the new Palestinian entity. A German government spokesperson said on Friday that Berlin was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make “long-overdue progress” toward a two-state solution.
Malaysians protest rising living costs
- Rally organized by opposition parties marked the first major protest since Anwar Ibrahim was propelled to power
- Protesters gathered at various points around the city center before converging on the city’s central Merdeka Square
KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of Malaysians took to the capital’s streets on Saturday to protest rising living costs and a perceived lack of reform by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.
The rally organized by opposition parties marked the first major protest in Southeast Asia’s sixth-largest economy since Anwar was propelled to power after general elections in 2022.
Protesters gathered at various points around the city center before converging on the city’s central Merdeka (Independence) Square, carrying placards saying “Turun Anwar” – “Step down Anwar” in Malay – while police kept a close eye.
“He (Anwar) has already governed the country for three years and has yet to fulfil the promises he made,” said protester Fauzi Mahmud, 35, from Selangor just outside the capital.
Anwar “has been to many countries to bring investments, but we have yet to see anything,” Fauzi told AFP, referring to the premier’s recent trips, including to Russia and Europe.
“The cost of living is still high,” the engineer said.
Anwar was appointed premier on a reformist ticket and promised to tackle graft, nepotism and cronyism within the Southeast Asian nation’s fractured political system.
Days ahead of the rally, the premier laid out a string of populist measures aimed to address concerns, including a cash handout for all adult citizens and a promise to cut fuel prices.
Anwar on Wednesday announced that Malaysians above 18 years will receive a one-off payment of 100 Malaysian ringgit ($23.71), to be distributed from August 31.
He added that about 18 million Malaysian motorists will be eligible to purchase heavily subsidized medium-octane fuel at 1.99 ringgit per liter, compared to the current price of 2.05 ringgit.
Political analysts viewed the announcements as a strategic move to appease increasing public frustration and dissuade people from joining Saturday’s protest.
However, a recent survey done by Malaysia-based independent Merdeka Center for Opinion Research found that the majority of Malaysian voters gave Anwar a positive approval rating of 55 percent.
Reasons included the easing of political turmoil in recent years as well as efforts to raise Malaysia’s profile through this year’s chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Russian attack kills 3 in Ukraine’s city of Dnipro, governor says
- “A terrible night. A massive combined attack on the region,” Serhiy Lysak, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, said on the Telegram app
KYIV: Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack that killed three people in Ukraine’s Dnipro and the nearby region on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow’s troops launched 235 drones and 27 missiles, damaging residential and commercial buildings and causing fires, the Ukrainian Air Force said. It said in a statement that 10 missiles and 25 attack drones hit nine sites. The rest of the drones and missiles were brought down, the Air Force said.
“A terrible night. A massive combined attack on the region,” Serhiy Lysak, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, said on the Telegram app.
He said three people were killed in the attacks and six others wounded in the city of Dnipro and the nearby region.
Lysak posted pictures showing firefighters battling fires, a residential building with smashed windows, and charred cars.
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed retaliatory strikes.
“Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, and Russian airports should feel that Russia’s own war is now hitting them back with real consequences,” Zelensky said on the Telegram app.
Ukraine’s attacks on Russia have heated up in recent months, with Moscow and Kyiv exchanging swarms of drones and fierce fighting raging along more than 1,000 kilometers of the frontline.
Indian police arrest man running ‘fake embassy’
- Harsh Vardhan Jain, 47, claimed to be the ambassador of fictional nations ‘like West Arctica, Saborga, Poulvia, Lodonia’
- The suspect allegedly used vehicles with fake diplomatic plates and shared doctored photos of himself with Indian leaders
NEW DELHI: Police in India have arrested a man accused of running a fake embassy from a rented house near New Delhi and duping job seekers out of money with promises of overseas employment.
Harsh Vardhan Jain, 47, was operating an “illegal West Arctic embassy by renting a house” in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, which neigbhours the capital, local police said.
Jain, according to police, claimed to be the ambassador of fictional nations “like West Arctica, Saborga, Poulvia, Lodonia.”
He allegedly used vehicles with fake diplomatic plates and shared doctored photos of himself with Indian leaders to bolster his claims.
“His main activities involved acting as a broker to secure work in foreign countries for companies and private individuals, as well as operating a hawala (money transfer) racket through shell companies,” the police said in a statement following his arrest earlier this week.
He is also accused of money laundering.
During a raid on Jain’s property, police said they recovered $53,500 in cash in addition to doctored passports and forged documents bearing stamps of India’s foreign ministry.
AFP was unable to reach Jain or his representatives for comment.
Westarctica, cited by the police as one of the countries Jain claimed to be representing, is a US-registered nonprofit “dedicated to studying and preserving this vast, magnificent, desolate region” of Western Antarctica.
In a statement, it said it had appointed Jain as its “Honorary Consul to India” after he had made a “generous donation.”
“He was never granted the position or authority of ambassador,” it added.
Anti-terror police probing Greek building explosion
A strong blast early Saturday damaged an apartment building in a suburb of Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, wounding two passersby and shattering windows of nearby buildings.
Six cars were also damaged in the explosion in the suburb of Sikies and anti-terror police were probing the incident, public broadcaster ERT said.
The blast damaged the ground floor of the building leaving gaping holes in the wall. The head of a prison officers’ union lives in the building, according to police.
A young man and woman who were passing at the time of the blast were injured by shards of glass, police sources told AFP.
In May, a woman involved in robberies died after an explosion in front of a bank in Thessaloniki.
The 38-year-old was linked to a jailed bank robber, accused among other things of terrorist acts as he had sent a parcel bomb to the Thessaloniki appeals court in February last year.
