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

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest exterior 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 courtroom to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice later this year, in Washington, U.S., May 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

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

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 won't succeed," the chief justice stated in an announcement. "The work of the Courtroom is not going to be affected in any manner."

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

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

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

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

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

"Courtroom employees have an exemplary and essential custom of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the belief of the Courtroom. This was a singular and egregious breach of that belief that is an affront to the Court docket and the community of public servants who work 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 right away codify abortion rights by way of laws.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and plenty 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 choices about abortion within the arms 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 courtroom that has moved sharply to the appropriate 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 precise to get an abortion earlier than the point of fetal viability and require that rules limiting abortion entry don't pose an "undue burden."

Alito wrote: "We hold 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 aspect with the state of Mississippi in defense of a regulation that would ban nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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

That is breaking information. Please check back for updates.