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

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest outdoors the U.S. Supreme Court after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution later this year, in Washington, U.S., May 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft courtroom opinion that would toss out longstanding abortion rights, but famous that isn't the court docket's remaining resolution.

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 is not going to succeed," the chief justice stated in a statement. "The work of the Court docket won't be affected in any manner."

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

The advance publication of a draft opinion is virtually unprecedented for the excessive court docket, the place leaks of any type are exceedingly uncommon.

The court shares drafts of opinions internally lengthy earlier than they are issued publicly, Roberts noted, calling it "a routine and important a part of the Courtroom's confidential deliberative work."

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

The justices, law clerks and different employees of the courtroom are "intensely loyal to the establishment and dedicated to the rule of regulation," Roberts said.

"Courtroom staff have an exemplary and essential custom of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the belief of the Court docket. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that's an affront to the Court docket and the community of public servants who work 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 right away codify abortion rights through legislation.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and plenty of known as for the sort of investigation the Roberts introduced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for placing decisions about abortion within the fingers of states as a substitute of the federal authorities.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one of six conservatives on a court docket that has moved sharply to the appropriate in 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 Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These pivotal rulings protect the right to get an abortion earlier than the purpose of fetal viability and require that regulations limiting abortion access do not pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the courtroom in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Well being Group would facet with the state of Mississippi in defense of a legislation that will ban virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant.

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

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