Roe v. Wade: No decision today in Dobbs abortion case

Washington D.C., May 16, 2022 / 09:46 am (CNA).

The Supreme Court’s first “opinion issuance day” since the leak of a draft opinion suggesting justices will overturn Roe v. Wade came and went Monday without a decision in a closely watched Mississippi abortion case.

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, remains one of 35 the court still must rule on before its summer recess.

The court announced last week that it would release one or more opinions Monday. It issued two shortly after 10 a.m. EDT: Patel v. Garland, an immigration case, and Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, which concerns a federal campaign finance law. 

While the court traditionally waits to issue decisions in bigger, more controversial cases like Dobbs until the end of the court’s term in late June or early July, the leak of the draft opinion, written by Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., threw into question that expectation.

In the wake of the bombshell leak, first published by Politico on May 2, abortion activists protested outside of justices’ private homes and attacked Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. At the same time, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. stressed that the “work of the Court will not be affected in any way” by the leaked draft, which the Supreme Court confirmed is authentic. 

While the draft opinion signals that the court will overturn Roe v. Wade, and send the issue of abortion back to the states, the Supreme Court urged that the document “does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

Pro-life legal experts previously outlined multiple possibilities regarding the timing of the Supreme Court’s decision in the case to CNA.

The next opinion issuance day has not yet been scheduled on the Supreme Court’s calendar.