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

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest exterior the U.S. Supreme Court 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 determination 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 docket opinion that might toss out longstanding abortion rights, however famous that is not the court's remaining resolution.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

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

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

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

The courtroom shares drafts of opinions internally lengthy earlier than they're issued publicly, Roberts noted, calling it "a routine and essential a part of the Court's confidential deliberative work."

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

The justices, legislation clerks and other employees of the court are "intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of regulation," Roberts mentioned.

"Court employees have an exemplary and vital tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial course of and upholding the belief of the Court docket. 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 here," he said.

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

Republicans decried the leak itself, and lots of known as for the type 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 an alternative of the federal government.

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 correct 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. Those pivotal rulings defend the proper to get an abortion before the purpose of fetal viability and require that laws limiting abortion entry don't pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the courtroom in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Well being Organization would side with the state of Mississippi in protection of a law that would ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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

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