The U.S. Capitol Police announced Tuesday they are increasing security around the Supreme Court after a draft opinion for overruling the landmark Roe v. Wade decision was leaked late Monday.
“We are working closely with our partner law enforcement agencies to prepare for any potential demonstrations in the area of the Supreme Court, including adding additional officers in the area,” Capitol Police said.
Protesters swarmed outside the Supreme Court when the news broke. A fence has been erected around the high court for protection.
Former law clerks said the justices need increased security.
“This is a major and direct attack on the Court’s judicial independence and it puts the justices in danger,” said Mike Davis, a former clerk to Justice Neil M. Gorsuch.
Carrie Severino, a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, said the court has likely already increased security for the justices.
“This just underscores how reckless the decision to leak this was because it obviously does create a threat to the justices as well. It’s just an outrageous thing to do,” Ms. Severino said.
Court watchers were aghast Monday night when news broke that a draft opinion indicates the high court would overrule the 1973 Roe decision, which gave women a national right to an abortion until fetal viability.
It is the first time a full draft opinion has been leaked in the Supreme Court’s 233 year history, according to former law clerks.
In the 98-page draft opinion obtained by Politico, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said abortion should return to the state legislatures.
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion,” he wrote. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“It’s time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” reads the opinion, dated from February.
An official ruling in the case is expected by the end of June.
The court is weighing a Mississippi ban on abortion at 15 weeks in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Mississippi officials argue that Roe should be overturned because it’s outdated. The state contends the viability standard set out in Roe is unclear, and Mississippi has an interest in banning abortions after 15 weeks to protect women’s health and that of unborn children.
The legal battle was brought by Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic, and a doctor who provides abortions. According to court papers, the clinic provides abortions up to 16 weeks of gestation.
They challenged the state’s Gestational Age Act, enacted in 2018. The law bans abortions after 15 weeks unless there is a medical emergency or severe abnormality within the fetus.
The abortion providers told the court in their filing that the state’s interest in the woman’s health and children doesn’t begin until viability, which occurs “months” after the 15-week marker set in the law.