On May 2, 2022, a secret draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was published by the website Politico. The opinion is the first unpublished Supreme Court draft known to be leaked. Drafted by Justice Alito, the decision of the Court would also be the first to overturn a constitutional right, overturning the abortion protections established by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. It its wake, dozens of states (including Mississippi, the state whose law was approved by the decision) will be permitted to to restrict and even ban abortion.

Given the impact and the urgency, we rushed out this SCOTUS update explaining Alito’s leaked draft, what are his arguments, and what it means in terms of constitutional law. TalksOnLaw’s founder, Joel Cohen read the opinion in the hours immediately after it was dropped and gives a detailed, politically neutral (we hope) summary of the arguments presented by Justice Alito.

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