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

Professional-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest outside 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 choice later this yr, in Washington, U.S., Might 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

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

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 won't succeed," the chief justice said in a press release. "The work of the Court will not be affected in any method."

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

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

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

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

The justices, law clerks and different staff of the courtroom are "intensely loyal to the establishment and dedicated to the rule of regulation," Roberts stated.

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

Republicans decried the leak itself, and plenty of known as for the type of investigation the Roberts introduced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting decisions about abortion within the palms of states as an alternative of the federal authorities.

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 protect the proper to get an abortion before the point of fetal viability and require that laws limiting abortion entry do not pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the courtroom in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Well being Group would side with the state of Mississippi in protection of a law that will ban virtually all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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

This is breaking information. Please check again for updates.