that the constitutional right to abortion many people believed was sacrosanct is likely to be taken away

[GoodTaste]

That dawning awareness seems to have been sparked by the December 1 oral arguments about abortion rights before the Supreme Court, when a majority of the current justices made it clear that the constitutional right to abortion many people believed was sacrosanct is likely to be taken away.
Source: Letter from An American

Is the use of "was" grammatical here? It seems to me that only "to be" is correct: many people believed to be sacrosanct. I am not absolutely sure.

 

[emsr2d2]

"was" is correct.

that / the constitutional right to abortion / [that] many people believed was sacrosanct / is likely to be taken away.

Does the extra "that" I've added in square brackets above help? The piece is saying that many people believed the right was sacrosanct until the current debates and potential law changes started.

 

[GoodTaste]

"was" is correct.

that / the constitutional right to abortion / [that] many people believed was sacrosanct / is likely to be taken away.

Does the extra "that" I've added in square brackets above help? The piece is saying that many people believed the right was sacrosanct until the current debates and potential law changes started.

Helped.

 

[emsr2d2]

It helped.

Please remember to write complete sentences at all times. Also note that your click on the "Thank you" emoji already indicated that my response was helpful. You didn't need to add a new post.