Local

After a two-year absence, plans are underway at Wiscasset Middle High School for a prom on the
evening of Saturday, May 21. The theme, “A Night at the Casino,” will feature an evening of music,
dancing, light snacks, and games. The Morris Farm, located just down the road from WMHS, is
hosting the event, which by the way is open to all of the high school’s students, not just juniors and
seniors.

National
Yesterday, Politico published a copy of a draft ruling in the Mississippi case, Dobbs v Jackson Women's

Health. This is the state’s 2018 law that banned abortions after 15 weeks and offered no exceptions for

cases of rape or incest. Since then, dozens of states have intro’d six-week abortion bans. And places like

Texas and Oklahoma are incentivizing citizens to enforce them.

What does the draft say?

That SCOTUS is ruling in favor of Mississippi. But not only that. It’s also reportedly overturning two key

decisions:

● Roe v Wade: the 1973 decision that women have the constitutional right to an abortion.

● Planned Parenthood v Casey: the 1992 decision that affirmed the right to an abortion

and protected women from dealing with undue burdens trying to get them.

Justice Samuel Alito — who wrote this draft majority opinion — called Roe “egregiously wrong." And said

it established a right to privacy that wasn’t written anywhere in the Constitution. Four other conservative

justices reportedly joined Alito in this decision: Clarence Thomas and the court's three Trump-appointed

justices: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The three liberal justices are believed

to be working on dissents. It's unclear how Chief Justice John Roberts will vote — but even if he sided

with the liberals it wouldn‘t change the outcome.

So is this official?

Not yet. This was a leak, and an unprecedented one at that: never in modern history has a draft SCOTUS

opinion been disclosed before a decision was announced. The final opinion was expected to be

announced publicly by June or July. It could still go through edits. But if SCOTUS rules to remove abortion

protections, over 20 states have laws in place to immediately ban or restrict the procedure.
International
Russia has confirmed it will pull out of the International Space Station (ISS), perhaps as
soon as two years from now, because of the sanctions imposed on it after its invasion of
Ukraine, according to news reports.

Intergalactic!

Its May the 4th!