Capitol Hill Reacts to the Leaked SCOTUS Draft

Good afternoon. We’ll have one extra edition of Uphill for you this week, coming tomorrow. The story we were going to publish today got pushed back because of, well … events.

Leaked SCOTUS Opinion Shakes Capitol Hill

According to a leaked draft majority opinion, the Supreme Court may strike down Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, two landmark cases that established a constitutional right to abortion. The news, published in a story by Politico Monday night, sent shockwaves around Capitol Hill and thrust abortion laws back into public eye. The high court is expected to hand down the opinion later this summer, but the draft opinion does not represent a final decision.

Democrats on Tuesday pledged to hold a vote on legislation codifying abortion rights and renewed calls for lowering the threshold to pass such legislation in the Senate. But neither course of action is likely: An abortion rights bill failed earlier this year in the Senate without enough support to pass even if the rules were changed, and key moderate Democrats reaffirmed their opposition to changing the Senate rules despite the draft opinion.

Those political realities left Democrats pointing to November’s upcoming elections as their primary recourse if Roe is overturned.

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