Attorney Who Will Argue Against Roe V. Wade Previously Worked For Justice Clarence Thomas, Trump Admin

Scott Grant Stewart
Scott Grant Stewart |

The attorney set to argue against Roe V. Wade in the much-awaited United States Supreme Court review on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health case this December 1 is a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas and also served under President Donald Trump's Administration.

Life News reported that Scott Grant Stewart was appointed by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch last March as Solicitor General to prosecute fraud on Medicaid. Steward was appointed alongside William Lamar who will be his Special Assistant Attorney General.

Yall Politics explained that Stewart's position makes him Mississippi's appellate litigation lead advocate. He will also be part of the Attorney General's team for crafting significant cases' strategies. As such, he will then be "fighting" for the state in an important case such as the Dobbs v. Jackson that Fitch in July asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn along with Roe v. Wade.

Fitch sent the court a 49-page brief pointing out how "egregiously wrong" Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood is for it impacts the constitutionality of state decisions to ban abortions they deem appropriately needed by their constituency.

The Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case is a lawsuit filed against the state of Mississippi for banning abortions for 15 weeks of pregnancy. The said law, the Gestational Act, was signed by former Governor Phil Bryant.

The lawsuit was brought to the level of the Supreme Court which in May agreed to decide on the constitutionality of states banning abortions beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy, through the landmark case Dobbs v. Jackson--a review that many Democrats fear while many Republicans confidently anticipate would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Stewart is then expected to contend the constitutional right of those who oppose the Mississippi Gestational Act as having "no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition."

Prior to his appointment as Mississippi's Solicitor General, Stewart was the United States Department of Justice Civil Division Deputy Assistant Attorney. Stewart then defended many policies of the country and presented in federal court of appeals at least 40 oral arguments.

Stewart also served in the Department of Justice's Legal Counsel Office while practiced being a litigator for private entities before he became the Deputy Assistant. Besides being a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas he also had the same role for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain of the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Stewart worked on an abortion case of an illegal immigrant who was 17 years old. The girl wanted to have an abortion in Texas and the district court approved it, but Stewart opposed it in defense of the Trump Administration's policy of refusing the facilitation of abortions to unaccompanied minors. The girl happened to be an illegal immigrant and was put under federal custody.

South Texas College of Law Houston Professor Josh Blackmon said the Dobbs v. Jackson case has a significant role to play in Stewart's career but more so for conservatives.

"(Dobbs v. Jackson) is going to be a very significant case, not just for (Stewart's) career but for the conservative legal movement. There's an entire movement that's behind him and supporting him," Blackman said in an interview with The Washington Post.