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

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

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft courtroom opinion that might toss out longstanding abortion rights, however famous that isn't the courtroom's ultimate determination.

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 will not succeed," the chief justice mentioned in a statement. "The work of the Court won't be affected in any means."

"I have directed the Marshal of the Court docket to launch an investigation into the supply of the leak," Roberts stated.

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

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

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

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

"Courtroom staff have an exemplary and vital tradition 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 belief that's an affront to the Court docket and the neighborhood of public servants who work right here," he stated.

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

Republicans decried the leak itself, and lots of called for the sort of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting decisions about abortion within the palms of states instead of the federal authorities.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one among six conservatives on a court docket that has moved sharply to the right 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 defend the fitting to get an abortion before the point of fetal viability and require that rules limiting abortion entry do not pose an "undue burden."

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

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

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

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