On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court experienced another significant leak concerning a major abortion rights ruling. An order compelling Idaho to permit emergency abortions was briefly posted online. The order, associated with the cases Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, was uploaded mistakenly and has not been officially released, meaning it currently holds no legal authority.
Abortion: Potential Impact of the 6-3 Decision
If the leaked 6-3 decision becomes the official ruling, it would represent a substantial setback for the anti-abortion movement led by Republican states. Idaho is one of the states that enacted strict abortion bans following the June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson. This ruling, by a Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court, overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which had guaranteed federal abortion rights since 1973.
The Dobbs v. Jackson ruling itself was the subject of a deliberate leak to Politico in May 2022, igniting a political storm that has yet to subside. Despite an investigation, the source of the Dobbs leak remains unidentified.
Political Repercussions and Ongoing Legal Battles
The controversy surrounding abortion rights has become a pivotal issue in American politics. From President Joe Biden down, Democrats have capitalized on Republican-led attacks on reproductive rights as a key campaign theme, contributing to significant electoral victories.
On the same day as the Idaho ruling leak, the Supreme Court issued two major decisions in other areas. However, Bloomberg News reported that it had obtained a copy of the Idaho ruling that was briefly posted on the Supreme Court’s website.
This latest incident underscores the ongoing volatility and sensitivity surrounding abortion rights in the United States, highlighting the profound implications these legal battles have for states’ policies and the broader national discourse on reproductive rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court justices voted 6-3 to lift a stay previously imposed in the Idaho abortion case, Bloomberg reported. The dissenting votes came from the court’s most conservative members: Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch. Alito is notably the author of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
According to Bloomberg, Justice Elena Kagan, one of the three liberal justices, wrote that the decision “will prevent Idaho from enforcing its abortion ban when the termination of a pregnancy is needed to prevent serious harms to a woman’s health.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, another liberal on the court, reportedly stated, “Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho. It is a delay. While this court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires.”
NBC reported that Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe confirmed a document was “inadvertently and briefly uploaded” but emphasized that the ruling “has not been released.”
