Former top Obama official triggered by Roe v Wade Supreme Court draft leak: ‘Honestly, I want to cry’

close

Video

Former top Obama official Neal Katyal reveals he wants to 'cry' over Roe v Wade SCOTUS leak

The former Acting Solicitor General told MSNBC this possible decision is as ‘muscular’ and ‘full-throated’ as he could have imagined.

Former Obama administration acting solicitor general Neal Katyal said that he wanted to "cry" after learning that the Supreme Court may strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to have an abortion.

"Honestly, I want to cry. You know, I want to cry in so many different ways," Katyal told MSNBC’s "Morning Joe."

Katyal called the possible Court reversal "full throated" and "muscular," claiming that the decision will allow states to pass laws with no rape or incest exception "whatsoever." The former top Obama official went on to say the decision would allow Congress to pass laws outlawing abortion in all 50 states and could affect the status of other rights, such as same-sex marriage equality. 

SUPREME COURT SET TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE, LEAKED DRAFT OPINION SHOWS: REPORT

A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington following reports of a leaked draft opinion by the court overturning Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

"This is an opinion that Robert Bork would have written. This is not an opinion that most justices who have lived in our lifetimes would have written. And Robert Bork, of course, was rejected for the court because of these views," Katyal added. 

On Monday night, a draft opinion obtained by Politico, written in early February by Justice Samuel Alito, indicated that SCOTUS is poised to strike down Roe v. Wade in an unprecedented leak. It was not immediately clear if it has been rewritten or revised. The Court has declined to verify or disavow the document. Analysts have suggested the leak may represent an attempt to pressure a Supreme Court justice to change his or her vote on the pivotal case.

Should Roe v. Wade be overturned, abortion laws would be left for individual states to decide. 

Democrats have urged Congress to pass a bill codifying Roe v. Wade in response to the alleged draft, a steep climb given their narrow control of both chambers.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Alito writes in the document, labeled the "Opinion of the Court" for the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives."

Fox News' Bradford Betz and Tyler O'Neil contributed to this report.