Former President Trump called the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that indicated the high court is preparing to overturn federal abortion protections “demeaning and not good” in brief comments Tuesday.
“This is a terrible thing. When you have a leak coming out of the Supreme Court, pretty unique. I guess maybe it’s happened before … and I think it was demeaning and not good,” Trump said during an interview with “The Bruce Hooley Show” on Tuesday.
Politico on Monday published a draft majority opinion from the high court that was written by Justice Samuel Alito, apparently in February, which signals that the Supreme Court is set to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established the right to an abortion.
A final decision is expected to be issued within the next two months, and it is not clear if the high court’s draft opinion will be reflected in the final ruling.
The leaked draft ruling was met with disapproval from Democrats and Republicans for different reasons.
Republicans expressed that they would welcome the high court’s draft decision if it were made final, but condemned the leaking of the ruling. Top congressional Republicans have called for an investigation into the matter, with Chief Justice John Roberts ordering such a probe on Friday.
Meanwhile, Democrats have expressed their concerns about the draft opinion signaling the end of Roe v. Wade.
During a separate interview aired Tuesday, Trump suggested some people would blame him should the high court eliminate the right to an abortion.
“Chuck Schumer says it’s all your fault, of course, if Roe v. Wade gets overturned. He’s obviously talking about those three pro-life Supreme Court justices that you picked. Your thoughts?” CBN News political analyst David Brody asked Trump in an excerpt of an interview, the full one of which is slated to air Wednesday.
“Well, a lot of people are very happy about that. Some people maybe say it’s my fault. And some people say, thank you very much,” the former president said.
In light of the document’s publication, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that the upper chamber will hold a vote on legislation to codify federal abortion rights.
Leading progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and some other members of the Democratic caucus have pushed for the filibuster to be nixed so that such a measure could be passed with 50 votes rather than the 60-vote threshold required for most legislation. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), however, indicated that their stance against getting rid of the requirement has not changed.
“Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half-a-dozen times in the past ten years, and are more important now than ever,” Sinema said in a statement on Tuesday.
Updated at 6:11 p.m.