Chief Justice John Roberts said that the leak of the draft opinion striking down Roe vs. Wade is a betrayal of the confidences of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The draft opinion, like other draft opinions that are written to reflect the will of the majority, was written by Justice Samuel Alito and was being circulated among the justices for review prior to finalization. The leak appears to critics as an act of political sabotage intended to persuade one or more of the justices into changing their position on the question of whether Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 abortion legalization decision, will be overturned.
If it is overturned, it returns the matter of abortions to the states, where Legislatures would make the decision about how far into pregnancies abortions can be performed. Currently, the Roe vs. Wade decision has vast control over that question.
Roberts issued a statement today:
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” Roberts wrote.
“We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce — permanent employees and law clerks alike — intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.
“I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”
On Monday, Politico published a copy of that draft opinion by Alito, and Justice Roberts confirmed the document is authentic. But it doesn’t necessarily represent the final opinion or position of the members of the Court. Initial votes can change as the wording of draft opinions circulate among the justices. The Supreme Court is expected to release the final decision this summer.
There were five votes to overturn Roe vs. Wade, according to the document. One is possibly uncommitted, which would explain why an employee of the court would choose to release the draft opinion, in the hopes of creating social unrest that would sway that one justice — likely Roberts — into voting against the initial opinion. The leak was a way to crowdsource the intimidation of the justices in terms of their physical safety and the safety of their families. On Monday, barricades were erected around the Supreme Court and protesters from both sides of the abortion debate gathered, noisily.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the leak is “absolutely reprehensible and needs to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. I really find it shocking that this would happen. I understand that it is unprecedented. Second point is Roe is still the law of the land. We don’t know the direction that this decision may ultimately take but if it goes in the direction that this leaked copy has indicated, I would just tell you that it rocks my confidence in the court right now.”
President Biden will likely come under increased pressure from the Left to pack the Supreme Court, as he tried to do earlier in his presidency. Whether Murkowski was signaling that she might go along with that court packing as a result of this decision is unclear, but Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who opposes abortion, is so far holding against court-packing.
Marshal of the court has no investigative power. It’s a sham.
Murkowski needs to know that SHE has rocked our confidence in her decisions about Alaska! Her vote and opinion is invalid!!
Murkowski is NOT a Republican. She supports abortion every step of the way. WE NEED TO REPLACE HER, NOW!!!
All of my children were raised strict Catholic. Even Lisa.
One can only do ones best, but unfortunately, children like Lisa, rarely listen, especially where common sense is concerned. #ohwellyoutried
The investigation needs go no further than the Clerks for the two Marxist women, or Justice Breyer. Roberts knows this.
Kagan’s clerk.
The smart money is on Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas! She has more than a few missing rivets!
Yes, Clarence confides in her by his own admission!
We know who did it. Just arrest his worthless agitprop azz.
To be fair, Princess, I have zero confidence in you.
It’s amazing how the left is willing to destroy the institutions and culture of America in a desire to kill babies.
This is a culture war. Common sense is losing.
If they can’t find a conservative to frame, it will go unsolved. Or unpunished.
Nothing goes unpunished.i think be better the offender face the public consequences now instead of waiting after death. Just like better for a man devote his life taking care of his child(ren) and
woman(or women of his child(ren). He wouldn’t want to face God asking ‘ you were given this child and mother, how did you care for them?’ and blame game is an insufficent defence. Be far better the offender face their consequence today than hide it and face it after death.
Suppose a leftist leaked the opinion. And suppose it leads to riots. Will that person be blamed for every action that results from the leak? Probably not. Two different sets of laws for two different sets of political persuasions in this country. Remember when the leftists “took over the capitol” during the Kavanaugh hearings? Anyone hear about the FBI tracking them down all over the country? Two different sets of laws.
I believe that the leak’s purpose is to gin up wild riotous opposition to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and influence the more conservative justices to stick with abortion being legal nationwide.
It’s to energize the Democrat, Marxist, LGBTQ, and radical women’s (feminazi) base, Randall.
Funny to have Senator Murkowski making declarations about Roe being the “law of the land”. The Leftists of the Alaska Supreme Court will use the privacy provision in the Alaska Constitution to strike down every possible limitation that the Legislature could impose on abortion in Alaska. In basic terms – Roe has very little to do with the law on abortion in Alaska. But it sure makes a great sound bite.
Come on Democrats, we can’t put up with this. You need to organize some “mostly peaceful protests” (because I need a new flat screen) 😉
Why would overturning Roe rock Senator Lisa’s confidence in the court? I wonder if she would have been equally appalled by the XIII, XIV and the XV amendments overturning the similarly flawed Dred Scott decision? Who votes for this Woman?
The leak of information is what should be upsetting everyone. That has rocked my confidence.
Yawn…… So will Biden’s sons and Hillary’s campaign….. We will have a firm answer sometime in the year 2090. The art of “acting like you’re doing something” but actually just stalling till everyone forgets on the next news cycle.
The Chief Justice didn’t give a rats behind when this sort of spying/stealing/leaking/political sabotage was taking place in the executive branch during the last term. Now that it has occurred in the supreme court, suddenly it’s “a betrayal of confidences”, “intended to undermine the integrity of our operations”, and “an egregious breach of trust”? Welcome to the world. Too bad nothing was done while there was a chance. I have no sympathy. Oh, and now is the time to send Murkowski packing. Talk about reprehensible and in need of condemnation in the strongest possible terms.
Gone! But not forgotten.
What’s got Chief Justice Roberts groaning? Alito stated in his draft opinion: “We do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today’s decision overruling “Roe” and “Casey.” And even if we could foresee what will happen, we would have no authority to let that knowledge influence our decision.” Apparently, though, the revolt of the young has the court concerned–judicial insight be damned, and foresight not needed! Count me with those who realize that we’re living in the 21st Century!
Comments are closed.