Long-term harm

Contrary to initial reactions by some (“US Jewish groups enraged by possible Supreme Court move to nix Roe v. Wade,” May 4), the leaked draft Supreme Court decision would not make abortions illegal across America. Rather, the preliminary opinion restores to states the authority to make decisions on abortion rights. Thus, legislatures in liberal states could decide to allow broad abortion access, while conservative states may be more restrictive.

Over the past 49 years, many legal scholars have asserted that Roe created out of whole cloth a constitutional right to abortion where none existed, with harmful ramifications. As Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon, observed, “Roe halted a political process [i.e., open debate and compromise at the state level] that was moving in a reform direction, and thereby prolonged divisiveness and deferred stable settlement of the issue.”

This leak is the first ever violation of this magnitude of court rules. Professor Jonathan Turley calls it “an unspeakably unethical act.” Chief Justice John Roberts says it is “an egregious breach of trust that is an affront to the court.”

The leak’s timing is suspicious. Oral arguments before the court took place last December. The draft was written in February. The final decision is expected in June.

It is very possible that the opinion was leaked now for partisan political purposes. With midterm elections just around the corner (primaries have already begun), the goal was to redirect the discussion away from the current crises – historic inflation, uncontrolled illegal immigration, rampant crime, etc. – which are causing Democrats to sink in the polls. This was an effort to intimidate the justices into changing their positions while at the same time energizing the Democratic base.

Both sides to the abortion rights debate should be alarmed by this sordid affair. It is another in a series of attacks by groups seeking to tear down bedrock American institutions and replace them with something that guarantees the implementation of the groups’ preferred policies – long-term harm to the body politic be damned.

If these people succeed in undermining the Supreme Court’s independence and integrity, the destabilizing impact on American society will dwarf the potential harm from any individual decision.

EFRAIM COHEN Zichron Ya’acov