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

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest outdoors the U.S. Supreme Court docket 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 resolution 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 would toss out longstanding abortion rights, however noted that isn't the court's remaining decision.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

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

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

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

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

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

The justices, regulation clerks and other workers of the court are "intensely loyal to the establishment and devoted to the rule of regulation," Roberts mentioned.

"Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial course of and upholding the belief of the Courtroom. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that's an affront to the Court docket 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 right away codify abortion rights by means of legislation.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and many referred to as 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 government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, certainly one of six conservatives on a courtroom that has moved sharply to the best 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 Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These pivotal rulings shield the appropriate to get an abortion earlier than the point of fetal viability and require that rules limiting abortion access do not 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 legislation that would ban virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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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