Supreme Court docket 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 making ready for a majority of the court docket to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution later this year, 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 docket opinion that may toss out longstanding abortion rights, however noted that isn't the court's final resolution.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Courtroom 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 is not going to be affected in any means."

"I've 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 nearly unprecedented for the excessive court docket, the place leaks of any form are exceedingly uncommon.

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

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

The justices, regulation clerks and different workers of the court docket are "intensely loyal to the institution and devoted to the rule of regulation," Roberts said.

"Court docket workers have an exemplary and necessary 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 belief that's an affront to the Court 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 right away codify abortion rights through legislation.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and many called for the type of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting decisions about abortion within the fingers of states as an alternative of the federal government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, considered one of six conservatives on a court docket that has moved sharply to the appropriate 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. These pivotal rulings defend the precise to get an abortion earlier than the point of fetal viability and require that rules limiting abortion entry do not pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the court docket in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Well being Organization would facet with the state of Mississippi in protection of a legislation that would ban nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant.

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

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