Supreme Court puts GOP on defense in Senate races — it could be a 'turning point' in the midterms: report

The leaked Supreme Court draft decision showing Justice Samuel Alito leading a far-right majority in overturning Roe v. Wade may dramatically upend the 2022 midterm elections.

"In the top Senate battlegrounds, Democrats are buying up television time and sounding off at every opportunity about Republican plans to curtail abortion rights. They have seized on the moment — and consider it a possible turning point," Politico reported on Saturday.

The leaked draft opinion is playing out differently depending on the state.

"One of the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbents, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), focused on the unprecedented disclosure of the draft opinion, more than its substance. 'The goal of this unprecedented breach is to intimidate sitting Supreme Court justices,' he tweeted. On social media in the days since, Johnson has focused on inflation and the border," Politico noted. "Pennsylvania’s contentious race for an open Senate seat is proving to be one notable exception to the GOP rule about downplaying the impending decision. Republican Senate candidates there have been talking about abortion for weeks as a way to pummel Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor endorsed by former President Donald Trump."

Supporters of women's rights are also sharpening their attacks on abortion opponents.

"Women who cannot make their own decisions about whether or not to have babies are enslaved because the state claims ownership of their bodies and the right to dictate the use to which their bodies must be put," Margaret Atwood wrote in a new op-ed in the Guardian. "Enforce childbirth if you wish but at least call that enforcing by what it is. It is slavery: the claim to own and control another’s body, and to profit by that claim."

There is also a backlash against justices, with Clarence Thomas complaining about being "bullied" while Brett Kavanaugh is facing protests at his home organized by a neighbor who survived sexual assault.