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

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest outdoors the U.S. Supreme Courtroom after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito getting ready for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination later this yr, in Washington, U.S., Might 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 noted that is not the courtroom's closing choice.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

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

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

The advance publication of a draft opinion is nearly unprecedented for the excessive courtroom, the place leaks of any kind are exceedingly uncommon.

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

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

The justices, law clerks and different staff of the court docket are "intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law," Roberts stated.

"Courtroom employees have an exemplary and important 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's an affront to the Court docket and the neighborhood of public servants who work here," he mentioned.

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

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

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one among six conservatives on a court that has moved sharply to the correct 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. These pivotal rulings protect the right to get an abortion before the purpose of fetal viability and require that laws limiting abortion access do not pose an "undue burden."

Alito wrote: "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled."

The draft of the opinion of the court in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies's Well being Group would aspect with the state of Mississippi in protection of a regulation that might ban almost 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.

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