Abortion draft puts unusual public pressure on Supreme Court
Associated PressWASHINGTON — The traditionally insular Supreme Court is about to face the full force of public pressure and abortion politics as justices make a final decision on whether to throw out the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Urging the justices to stick to their process, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell promised that senators would “have their backs, no matter what.” In a televised speech from the Capitol just across the street from the court, McConnell, who is a chief architect of a campaign to confirm conservative judges, encouraged the justices to “tune out the bad faith noise and feel completely free to do their jobs.” The leaked draft gave Americans a rare, up-close sneak preview of the typically private, hidden deliberations of the high court, and the disclosure is propelling a public outpouring of opinion and protest reflective of the nation’s long debate over abortion policy — all in the run-up to the fall’s contested congressional elections. Not since the 1970s have the Supreme Court’s private deliberations become so public — in fact, the final Roe v. Wade decision leaked hours before it was announced. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who has supported bills to limit abortion and is up for reelection in Wisconsin, said in a statement that neither personal beliefs nor “pressure from the radical left to intimidate sitting Supreme Court justices, should be the basis on which this profound moral issue should be decided for all of society.”