Conservatives are calling for an investigation into who leaked what is reportedly a draft opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and allowing states to decide the issue for themselves.
The ruling, which is not final and could wind up being reversed when a former decision is handed down, likely in June, was published by Politico Monday evening. The opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito.
The leak, however, has outraged both right and left; the former because the integrity of the nation’s highest court has been shattered, and the latter because the decision sweeps away the highly controversial 1973 SCOTUS ruling legalizing abortion in all 50 states.
Conservative Brief :
Politico reportedly obtained a draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The case originated in Mississippi and challenged the landmark 1973 decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to abortion. The Supreme Court was expected to announce its ruling in the coming months, but the leak has changed everything.
It appeared that Alito’s vote in favor of overturning Roe v Wade was backed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and possibly Chief Justice John Roberts.
Conservatives want the leaker to be found and disciplined. They are also calling for justices to receive additional protection from protesters angry by the ruling — which, again, is not yet final.
“If this story is true, the Court should issue its opinion right away,” tweeted former federal prosecutor and Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy. “Otherwise the disgraceful leak wins. I would say that if my side lost. If we lose the integrity of the Court’s process, we lose the Court. That should be intolerable to all of us who live the country.”
If this story is true, the Court should issue its opinion right away. Otherwise the disgraceful leak wins. I would say that if my side lost. If we lose the integrity of the Court’s process, we lose the Court. That should be intolerable to all of us who live the country.
— Andy McCarthy
“This leak has to come from a clerk or Justice themselves,” a clerk told conservative Washington-based podcaster Benny Johnson. “It is intended to blow up the court. Criminal investigation needs to happen now.”
Just spoke with former Supreme Court clerk. They are horrified.
This is a quote:"This leak has to come from a clerk or Justice themselves. It is intended to blow up the court. Criminal investigation needs to happen now."
They suggest Sotomayor has most radical leftist staff.
— Benny Johnson
“Roe should be overruled,” tweeted First Amendment attorney Casey Mattox. “But the biggest news here would be an egregious ethical violation by someone inside the Court if there is any validity to this. And perhaps by Politico.”
“The alleged leak of the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is nothing short of breathtaking,” wrote legal analyst and George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turkey. “It would constitute one of the greatest breaches of security in the history of the Court.”
“The SCOTUS leak is an actual insurrection. An attempt to completely upend and delegitimize the rule of law, incite violence and chaos, and potentially plunge the nation into civil war. January 6th was a stroll in the park compared to this. It’s not even close,” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh tweeted.
The SCOTUS leak is an actual insurrection. An attempt to completely upend and delegitimize the rule of law, incite violence and chaos, and potentially plunge the nation into civil war. January 6th was a stroll in the park compared to this. It's not even close.
— Best Selling Biologist Matt Walsh
An angry Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who once clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, denounced the leak on her show Monday evening and said if a law clerk leaked the ruling that person is subject to permanent disbarment.
Others on her program stated that they believe the ruling is authentic because its language is similar to previous Alito rulings. They also speculated that the ruling was leaked in an attempt to pressure the justices to change their minds, though some speculate that it will only harden their position.
The ruling by Alito describes the Roe ruling as originally flawed from the outset and calls for the issue of whether or not abortion should be legalized to be decided by each state.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
“We, therefore, hold the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito writes in the document, labeled the ‘Opinion of the Court.’
The case involves a Mississippi law that bans all abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
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