U of M Students To Protest SCOTUS’ Draft Striking Down Roe v. Wade

MINNEAPOLIS — Students are set to protest Wednesday night at the University of Minnesota after a draft opinion leaked to POLITICO suggested the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Student-led organizations — including Women Against Military Madness, Students for a Democratic Society at UMN, and Women’s March Minnesota — are planning to hold an “emergency protest” 6 p.m. Wednesday at the university’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Organizers plan to rally in support of reproductive rights before marching to U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office to demand action on abortion laws.

More than 100 people have said they will join the protest, and hundreds more are considering joining, as of 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.

"This is a student-led protest, but all community is welcome!” organizers said.

Abortion In Minnesota: What Happens If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned

Five of nine U.S. Supreme Court justices are ready to vote to overturn abortion protections under Roe v. Wade, POLITICO reported Monday.

POLITICO on Monday night exclusively published Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's draft majority opinion detailing the court’s rationale for potentially overturning Roe v. Wade.

POLITICO called Alito’s draft opinion "a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right."

Alito wrote in the draft opinion that "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," POLITICO reports. He wrote "Roe and Casey must be overturned" and said the court must "return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

POLITICO noted that Supreme Court justices can still change their votes as draft opinions circulate and the draft majority opinion will not be the court's final ruling until it is published, "likely in the next two months."

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of Alito's draft opinion included in POLITICO's report but said "it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case."

Rep. Omar Calls For Expanding Supreme Court After Roe Draft Leaks

Chief Justice John Roberts said "this betrayal of the confidences of the Court" will not affect justices "in any way" and "will not succeed."

The leak of the draft majority opinion "was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront" to the Supreme Court and "the community of public servants who work here," Roberts said Tuesday in a statement.

Roberts also ordered an investigation into how the draft majority opinion was leaked to the press.

Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that abortion rights will not be curtailed in Minnesota if the Supreme Court votes to strike down Roe v. Wake.

“We’re in a dangerous time. People are scared today,” he tweeted. “But again, let me make this clear: whoever sits in the governor's office, as I have the privilege to do right now, will make a decision on if a ban on abortion access is implemented in our state.”

“My statement is very clear: Not on my watch,” he wrote.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan called abortion a “fundamental right” and said she and Walz “will do everything in our power to protect access to reproductive health care.”

Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) tweeted “This is bulls--t,” in response to news of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion, while Klobuchar tweeted "health care decisions should be between a woman and her doctor, not Ted Cruz."

Democratic U.S. Reps. Dean Phillips and Betty McCollum both called for lawmakers to codify abortion rights into law.

"Our nation has never experienced nor can ever accept such a dangerous erosion of freedom, liberty, and privacy," Phillips tweeted Tuesday. "We must codify (abortion rights) into law using every tool our founders afforded the Congress."