New York Times reports conservative supreme court justice had no changes to 98-page draft of opinion that removed right to abortion
The conservative supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch took just 10 minutes to approve without changes a 98-page draft of the opinion that would remove the federal right to abortion that had been guaranteed for nearly 50 years, the New York Times reported.
According to the paper, Samuel Alito, the author of the opinion in Dobbs v Jackson, the case that struck down Roe v Wade, from 1973, circulated his draft at 11.16am on 10 February 2022.
Citing two people who saw communications between the justices, the Times said: “After a justice shares an opinion inside the court, other members scrutinise it. Those in the majority can request revisions, sometimes as the price of their votes, sweating sentences or even words.
“But this time, despite the document’s length, Justice Neil M Gorsuch wrote back just 10 minutes later to say that he would sign on to the opinion and had no changes.”
Well yeah. Alito was executing “the plan” they all already agreed on back at the Federalist Society. SCOTUS has been captured by far right forces. The court is illegitimate and corrupt to the core.
5 out of 9 are known to have taken what looks to be bribes:
- Jane Roberts, who is married to Chief Justice John Roberts, made $10.3 million in commissions from elite law firms, whistleblower documents show
- Calls for Clarence Thomas Impeachment Vote After Report Exposes Billionaire-Funded Trips
- Kavanaugh accuser Ford testifies she ‘believed he was going to rape’ her & The Mystery of Brett Kavanaugh’s Baseball-Ticket Debt
- FBI interviewed individuals who accuse Amy Coney Barrett faith group of abuse
- Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s staff prodded colleges and libraries to buy her books
- Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court
- Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property
Until the Supreme Court is completely overhauled, it’s going to be extremely difficult to substantively change the heading of this country. Conservatives see this as a win, but they’re too short-sighted to realize they shot themselves in the foot just the same.
We could also water it down, adding justices seems to be the only option since they don’t/won’t hold themselves accountable.
I’m no legal expert but I’ve always thought the randomized or rotating court idea (perhaps > 9) filled by lower circuit courts would be better and less partisan overall.
There are 13 circuit courts full of judges, all with their own lifetime appointments. I believe the proposed idea is that the current supreme court could be made up of random, rotating judges on temporary assignments from the 13 circuit courts. Currently, the 9 justices oversee one or more of the 13 circuits. So, we could expand the court to match the 13 circuits, and then, as justices retire/die, their replacements are randomly assigned to terms of 18-24 months from the circuits they oversee. It would still meet the constitutional requirements for the supreme court, as it only requires that there is a supreme Court made up of appointed justices in good standing.
I’m sure it’s more complex than that, but those are the basics of the random appointments and rotating seated justices.
I’ve never heard of that option, but they’re appointed too right? Not sure if that would fix it.
All of Canada’s judges are appointed (which, iirc, isn’t what happens in America).
It is rare to see any judge up here so politically partisan. Part of that may be that we repatriated our Constitution in 1982 (to formally acknowledge our independence from Britain) so judges are basing decisions on a newer document. The other thing is Canadian courts do not put “original intent” above all … they consider the changes in society’s mores and beliefs just as important.
Up here all judges abhor being reversed so work very hard to base their rulings on facts. I’m not sure if it’s the same in America.
abhor being reversed
Who reverses them, do you have a Supreme Court type of system?
They are but they tend to be constantly cycling out at a given time and so seem less concentrated or determined by individual presidents. They are also possibly subject to less lobbying targeting given which group presiding over a specific case would never be certain.
Why would Republicans care about that? They aren’t black! Except for the black one taking the most bribes so they consider him white!
Thomas isn’t the one taking the most bribes, it’s just the one they focus on in the media.
It’s not a recent thing.
There was about 5 minutes under Warren where the court looks like it might actually be progressive. Other than that essentially it’s entire history it’s just a archconservative institution that exists as a check on civil rights.
Wow, that was a hell of a read. Thank you.
So what are you going to do about it?
Instead of protecting the Constitution, specifically the 9th Amendment, the current SCOTUS is instead denying and disparaging the basic rights of all those people who can get pregnant.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
SCOTUS is either blind or bought off … or both.
It’s a lot of people. If we add in all of those who can get someone pregnant but aren’t ready to be parents or who love someone whose life is affected by a problematic pregnancy, the number grows massively.
But we don’t live in a representative democracy anymore.
The 9th amendment? Those FedSoc fucks never read past the 2nd.
And Gorsuch in particular disregards that pesky line in the 1st that separates church and state.
Or maybe it’s that he denies the post Civil War incorporation of the Bill of Rights.
Either way, he’s written about how he thinks it should be legal for States to have an official religion (his own).
SCOTUS is either blind or bought off
OH, OH, I KNOW THIS ONE!
It didn’t take me nearly 10 minutes to figure out which one.
Of course he did. Overturning Roe was on all of their agendas as they were getting confirmed. They would just never admit to it. Conservatives are liars.
Yeah, of course. No doubt Alito circulated the opinion to allies before circulating to the rest is the court. Hell, I’m sure Alito has had it in his drafts folder for since he was appointed.
The bigger surprises:
- Breyer was willing to join a plurality opinion that would have allowed the 15 week ban, but upheld the right to an abortion before then. That likely lead a conservative (probably Alito, which is just personal speculation) to leak it to solidify votes.
- They agreed to hear the case before Ginsburg’s body was even cold. They just pretended to relist it so it didn’t look like they were going to do it immediately. It was enough to even cause Barrett to vote to not hear the case.
- They let Mississippi completely change arguments midway, a tactic usually punished by the court but rewarded here.
Most people probably don’t realize that this is super common in senior leadership roles. You’ll share drafts and get buy in for critical things well before you send it out officially. It’s much easier to handle issues outside of official processes that might include certain procedures or ceremony. At the very least you’ll know what type of push back you can expect.
This probably is more indicative of them coordinating prior to release of the opinion. Possibly in an attempt sway other justices by how quickly it was signed off on.
These guys know how they are going to vote long before the case is even accepted to the Court.
It’s a total charade, the whole fucking thing.
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Think of it this way. We’d fail a 5th Grade student who didn’t read a 100 page book and hold them back a year.
This guy is an inspiration to those struggling kids! Truly anyone can be a Supreme Court Justice!
Someone once made the point that a Supreme Court judge really didn’t have to know the law, because by the time a case got to the court it was obvious that the law was ambiguous. They argued that the Justices should be considering which interpretation was best for the most people, not which was the ‘correct’ way to view it.
Oh, he read the 100 page document. Just long before it was sent out.
In your heart of hearts, do you believe that’s what happened?
“Yep, that takes rights away from women alright. Good enough for me!” - Gorsuch probably.
It took him 10 minutes to pull out the rubber stamp?
It took him 9 minutes to open the attachment on his email.
I can all but guarantee he didn’t even open the attachment. Probably replied on his cell phone when he saw the alert.
This stuff isn’t really a debate or discussion. The two sides meet on their own and talk about what their strategies are before meeting in the middle in pointless formalities. They probably worked on the draft together or went over it before it went out- the goal was for the side in control to decide on how they wanted it before putting it through the red tape of a vote. The real decisions were made long before the email was even sent.
For all intents and purposes 4 of the 5 members of the supreme court are just bench warmers until a conservative member retires or dies. At that point they are relevant until another conservative gets pushed through, or simply take over once a liberal gets through. That’s it.
imo the concept of nonpartial decisions or bipartisanship is a fantasy, just like communism. There’s the winning side and there’s the losing side and the winners take all in this country.
There’s no chance he didn’t know what was in it. He was part of the cabal from the beginning.
Given how far said stamp was jammed up his arse, I’d say that is a reasonable estimate.
Violence is the only reasonable response.
Every time I think I can’t possibly think less of the Supreme Court they go and surprise me
He knew the plan to overthrow Wade v Roe already and was just making sure it was on track.
