Biden's Supreme Court commission to meet with key abortion case looming

President Biden's commission on the Supreme Court meets for the first time on Wednesday, triggering the 180-day deadline for the group to provide its report to the president on the status of the court and the issues surrounding it – including on packing the court. 

That means the commission's report will be due in mid-November, likely around the same time as the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a major abortion case that it agreed to take up on Monday. 

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, concerns a Mississippi law that bans abortion procedures after 15 weeks. Lower courts blocked the law but Mississippi, like other right-leaning states in recent years, appealed the rulings to the Supreme Court in hopes that the new 6-3 Republican-appointed majority might expand the scope of allowable state regulations or bans on abortion. 

The development could lead to a major ruling likely next spring. It incensed Democrats and gave many on the right hope that the court might go so far as to entirely overturn Roe v. Wade, the case in which the court said women have a right to abortion.

"Every life is precious and created with dignity and potential. There is no constitutional right to abortion, yet for nearly 50 years since Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, more than 62 million children have been the tragic victims of abortion," Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said in a statement Monday. "It is long past time for the Supreme Court to right this wrong and I am encouraged to see the Court announce it will take up this case."

"We don’t want to downplay this: Abortion rights are under attack and the case is directly challenging Roe v. Wade," the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted.

"The consequences of a Roe reversal would be disastrous," Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., tweeted. "Weakening or overturning Roe poses a threat to our fundamental rights to make personal decisions beyond abortion & it’s alarming that the Supreme Court has agreed to review an abortion ban."