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The Senate Will Vote On A Bill Creating A Federal Right To An Abortion, Schumer Says
Pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators gather in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on May 3, 2022. The Supreme Court is poised to strike down the right to abortion in the US, according to a leaked draft of a majority opinion that would shred nearly 50 years of constitutional protections.
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Brendan Smialowski
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AFP via Getty Images
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From NPR's Washington desk
Chief Justice John Roberts is confirming the authenticity of the draft opinion published by Politico, though he notes it doesn’t represent the court’s final position.
In a statement, Roberts said he has directed the Supreme Court marshal to investigate the leak.
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed,” he said. “The work of the Court will not be affected in any way."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate will vote to codify the right to abortion into federal law, in response to a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
“A vote on this legislation is not an abstract exercise, this is as urgent and real as it gets,” Schumer said in a floor speech on Tuesday morning, following Politico’s Monday night reporting of the draft, which NPR has not been able to verify and could change before the final version comes out this summer. “We will vote to protect a woman's right to choose and every American is going to see which side every senator stands.”
Any such vote would be symbolic. Democrats control the Senate but only hold half the seats, and they can’t muster the 60-vote supermajority needed to pass the law that Schumer suggested.
Some senators, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have called to eliminate the filibuster’s supermajority rules to pass a law to protect abortion rights with a simple majority vote. Democrats do not have the support from within the party for such a tactical move, as two centrist senators — Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — are opposed to changing any filibuster rules without bipartisan support.
During his floor speech, Schumer made a plea to Americans to lobby their members of Congress in support of abortion rights.
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“To the American people, I say this: the elections this November will have consequences because the rights of 100 million women are now on the ballot. To help fight this court's awful decision, I urge every American to make their voices heard this week and this year,” he said.
Schumer also repeated his accusation that conservative justices “lied” to the Senate in the course of their confirmations regarding their views on whether the Roe decision was settled precedent. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has denounced the leak but not commented on substance of the apparent draft decision, which could change before the Supreme Court officially issues its ruling.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.
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