Leaked document suggests the Supreme Court intends to strike down Roe v. Wade

Leaked document suggests the Supreme¹ Court intends to strike down Roe² v. Wade³

Transcript⁴

Politico published Monday night what appeared to be an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion⁵ in the U.S.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

We begin with news of a legal and political earthquake at the Supreme Court. A leaked opinion suggests the court intends to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark⁶ abortion ruling. That's according to Politico, which last night published what appeared to be an initial draft of a majority written opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. NPR has not independently verified the opinion. Still, though, the news has created shock waves. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg joined us this morning to discuss the leaked document.

NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE⁷: It looks totally legitimate⁸. It's very long. It's in this framework of a Supreme Court opinion. It has something like over a hundred footnotes that are appropriate footnotes. If this is a fake, it's a very masterful fake. But it really smells like, looks like and feels like the real thing.

MART?NEZ: Is there any thought at all that the purported⁹ opinion has a chance of changing?

TOTENBERG: You know, there's always that chance; it's happened numerous times. But the Politico story said - Politico said it had, I think, four sources to - in authenticating¹⁰ this document who said that there were five votes to sign on to this opinion or something very roughly like it. Now, it also said it was unclear whether the chief justice would sign on to the opinion, since, at least in oral argument, his view seemed very different than the other conservative members of the court. His view was to - seemed to suggest that he wanted to go slowly, uphold the Mississippi law that's at issue here which bans abortions¹¹ after 15 weeks and leaves the basic framework otherwise intact of Roe v. Wade for now and perhaps slowly chip away at it. But he got no takers at oral argument.

So the question in my mind is whether he even assigned this opinion. The chief justice assigns opinions when he's in the majority. And he might well have assigned this opinion, and he may well sign on to this opinion. Or he may well have said, I don't think this is the right way to go. And in which case the senior member in the majority assigns who will write the opinion, and that would be Justice Clarence Thomas. And I can't think of any reason why Thomas wouldn't give himself this opinion. So there are still some mysteries to this, but I would be shocked if this were not an early draft of the opinion that will eventually come out. I'm also completely shocked that this happened at all.

MART?NEZ: And so now that it seems like the cat's out of the bag, so to speak, I mean, what's the court likely to do now?

TOTENBERG: Well, they're going to have to do what they normally do, which is work out what the opinion is going to say, refine it, take things out that are offensive to some people in the majority or strengthen other things. But I would think this is a bomb at the court - really, a bomb. And it undermines everything the court stands for internally and institutionally - that they trust their law clerks, that they trust each other, that they work on things jointly¹². And there has never been a leak, a compromise like this at the court, at least in modern times. No fully¹³ formed draft opinion has been leaked to the press or outside the court. Once or twice, there have been leaks that say how a something's going to turn out or after the fact that somebody may have changed his or her mind. But this is a full-flown Pentagon Papers-type compromise of the court's work. And they won't be able to trust each other for a very long time. And they won't be able to trust their law clerks in the same way, either.

MART?NEZ: What's the court likely to do now? Will they launch an investigation¹⁴?

TOTENBERG: Well, they may. But as - you know, I can't imagine that the court would turn outside of itself - to the FBI, for example - to investigate who did this. And after all, a leak like this is not a crime. So how could you turn to a law investigative agency for that? The court, I think, will try to figure out who did this internally. It's a career-ender for whoever did.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. And once again, NPR has not independently verified this reporting. Nina, as always, thank you.

TOTENBERG: Thank you.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

3 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

6 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

9 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 authenticating   

v.证明是真实的、可靠的或有效的( authenticate的现在分词 )；鉴定，使生效

参考例句：

• Specifies the password used for authenticating to a remote server. 指定用于对远程服务器身份验证的密码。 来自互联网
• Property indicating which hash algorithm to use when authenticating the message. 表示验证消息时要使用的散列算法的属性。 来自互联网

11 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

12 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。