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

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

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft court docket opinion that may toss out longstanding abortion rights, however famous that is not the courtroom's closing determination.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Courtroom was meant to undermine the integrity of our operations, it is not going to succeed," the chief justice stated in a press release. "The work of the Court docket won't be affected in any method."

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

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

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

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

The justices, law clerks and other employees of the court are "intensely loyal to the institution and devoted to the rule of legislation," Roberts stated.

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

The publication of the draft opinion rocked Washington, triggering waves of shock and fury from Democrats who are actually pushing for Congress to right away codify abortion rights by way of laws.

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 placing choices about abortion in the fingers of states as a substitute of the federal government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, considered one of six conservatives on a court docket that has moved sharply to the proper 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 Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey. These pivotal rulings defend the correct to get an abortion before the purpose of fetal viability and require that regulations limiting abortion entry do not pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the court in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls's Well being Group would facet with the state of Mississippi in protection of a legislation that may ban nearly 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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