New York Times reports conservative supreme court justice had no changes to 98-page draft of opinion that removed right to abortion

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.”

      • just_change_it@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        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.