Hear Justice Antonin Scalia talk about Roe v. Wade (2012)

Justice Antonin Scalia talks to CNN's Piers Morgan about Roe v. Wade and abortion rights in 2012.

Senate will hold key vote on bill to preserve right to abortion with Roe v. Wade in jeopardy

Overturning Roe could have major repercussions for IVF treatments, fertility experts warn

Opinion: Supreme Court mystery thickens

Opinion by Richard Galant, CNN

(CNN) In the mid-1990s, a law student at Columbia University spent his spare time writing a thriller about the inner workings of the US Supreme Court. Brad Meltzer's "The 10th Justice" told the story of Ben Addison, a clerk to one of the justices who is duped into revealing the court's forthcoming, but still confidential, ruling to people seeking to profit off the decision.

In real life, when Politico published a draft majority opinion last week striking down the half-century old precedent that legalized abortion in America, there was no way to tell how it leaked — or why. The revelation rocked America's political and legal worlds.

Gone was not only court secrecy, but also the assurances from conservative Supreme Court nominees that Roe v. Wade was "settled" law, which led some observers to think that the court doctrine of "stare decisis" — to "stand by things decided" — might prevent the complete overturning of a landmark precedent set in 1973.

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