Supreme Courtroom says leaked abortion draft is genuine; 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 court docket to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision later this yr, 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 court opinion that will toss out longstanding abortion rights, but noted that isn't the court docket's closing determination.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

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

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

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

The court docket shares drafts of opinions internally lengthy before they're issued publicly, Roberts famous, calling it "a routine and essential a 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, legislation clerks and other employees of the court docket are "intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law," Roberts said.

"Court workers have an exemplary and vital tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the belief of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that belief that's an affront to the Court docket and the community 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 via laws.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and lots of known as for the kind of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting decisions about abortion in the hands of states as an alternative of the federal authorities.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one in every of six conservatives on a court 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 Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Those pivotal rulings defend the appropriate to get an abortion earlier than the point of fetal viability and require that regulations 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 court docket in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Group would facet with the state of Mississippi in defense of a regulation that might ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant.

Decrease 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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