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Democratic lawmakers and liberals rushed to call for court packing after a leaked Supreme Court draft decision details the nation’s highest court will allegedly overturn Roe v. Wade.
“A stolen, illegitimate, and far-right Supreme Court majority appears set to destroy the right to abortion, an essential right which protects the health, safety, and freedom of millions of Americans. There is no other recourse. We must expand the court,” Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey tweeted Monday evening.
A Politico piece published Monday set off a firestorm in the political sphere for detailing that the Supreme Court is poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that ruled the Constitution protects pregnant women to choose whether to have an abortion.
SUPREME COURT SET TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE, LEAKED DRAFT OPINION SHOWS: REPORT
U.S. Senator Ed Markey, who won in a primary challenge from U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III, takes the stage at his primary election rally in Malden, Massachusetts, U.S., September 1, 2020. REUTERS/Gretchen Ertl FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) participates in a news conference to call on Congress to cut funding for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Files (REUTERS)
The draft opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito in February. The Court has declined to verify the document.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the document, labeled the “Opinion of the Court” for the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
DEMOCRATS CONDEMN SUPREME COURT ABORTION DRAFT AS ‘ABOMINATION,’ URGE CONGRESS TO CODIFY ROE V WADE
FILE – In this March 7, 2019, file photo, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito testifies before the House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) (Associated Press )
Other Democrats and liberals joined Markey in calling for court packing, including Rep. Ilhan Omar and actor George Takei.
Packing the court would increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court for political purposes. The term gained notoriety in 1937, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled a plan to install as many as 15 judges on the Supreme Court.
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Other Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders called for the end of the Senate filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez echoed Sanders for the codification of Roe v. Wade into federal law.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Tyler O’Neil contributed to this article.
