As you may have already heard today, the Supreme Court’s drafted decision on overturning famous pro-choice case “Roe v Wade” was leaked.  For some context on what this means and why this is such a big deal, we turn to contributor at ABC news and Constitutional Law Professor, Kate Shaw for the scoop.

Importantly, she mentions that this is not the first time the Supreme Court has overturned a decision they previously passed down. Generally, though, when they do this, they are amending something to take into consideration human rights issues which were not taken into account at the time of the original decision.

This is the first time in history that the Supreme Court’s overturning of a decision is actually leading directly to taking away what had been determined to be a human right. As Shaw puts it:

“Those rights that we previously recognized… we’re taking them back.””

Unless something dramatically changes, it appears that the Court will overturn Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, allowing states the right to restrict or prohibit abortion– this has not been the case since 1973.

It’s not just the decision that is newsworthy and history-making, though.The fact that this information was leaked before the decision was drafted, finely tuned, and ready for public consumption… that’s something we’ve never seen before, either.

Whether you agree with the original decision or not, it’s still a little scary to think about what this could mean for other decisions that are directly linked to human rights issues. Professor Shaw also discusses the issues that could arise from this regarding the American peoples’ faith in the Supreme Court, citing that “2/3rds of Americans don’t want to see Roe v Wade overturned today.” She worries that this is the first step toward a “legitimacy crisis” for the court.

What do you think all of this means for the future of other decisions surrounding human rights issues? Do you think the information leak will have any bearing on what happens next?