Supreme Court docket says leaked abortion draft is authentic; Roberts orders investigation into leak

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest exterior the U.S. Supreme Courtroom after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito getting ready for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution later this yr, in Washington, U.S., Could 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Court docket Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft court opinion that would toss out longstanding abortion rights, but noted that is not the court docket's final decision.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court docket was meant to undermine the integrity of our operations, it won't succeed," the chief justice mentioned in an announcement. "The work of the Court docket will not be affected in any way."

"I've directed the Marshal of the Court docket to launch an investigation into the supply of the leak," Roberts mentioned.

The advance publication of a draft opinion is virtually unprecedented for the excessive courtroom, where leaks of any type are exceedingly rare.

The court docket shares drafts of opinions internally long before they are issued publicly, Roberts famous, calling it "a routine and essential part of the Courtroom's confidential deliberative work."

The draft in this high-profile abortion case was created in February, in keeping with Politico, which obtained the opinion.

The justices, law clerks and different employees of the court are "intensely loyal to the establishment and dedicated to the rule of legislation," Roberts mentioned.

"Court workers have an exemplary and necessary tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial course of and upholding the belief of the Courtroom. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Courtroom and the neighborhood of public servants who work right here," he mentioned.

The publication of the draft opinion rocked Washington, triggering waves of shock and fury from Democrats who at the moment are pushing for Congress to immediately codify abortion rights through legislation.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and many referred to as for the type of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting selections about abortion in the fingers of states as an alternative of the federal authorities.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one among six conservatives on a courtroom that has moved sharply to the precise within the wake of the Trump administration.

Alito's draft would toss out the precedent set by the 1973 case Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in 1992 by Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey. These pivotal rulings shield the best to get an abortion earlier than the purpose of fetal viability and require that rules limiting abortion access do not pose an "undue burden."

Alito wrote: "We hold that Roe and Casey should be overruled."

The draft of the opinion of the court docket in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies's Health Organization would facet with the state of Mississippi in defense of a regulation that may ban virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant.

Lower federal courts had blocked the legislation on the grounds that it violates the protections established by the Roe and Casey choices.

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