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 Court docket after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the courtroom to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice later this 12 months, 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 courtroom opinion that might toss out longstanding abortion rights, but noted that is not the court's final determination.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

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

"I've directed the Marshal of the Court docket 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, the place leaks of any variety are exceedingly rare.

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

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

The justices, legislation clerks and different employees of the court docket are "intensely loyal to the establishment and dedicated to the rule of law," Roberts mentioned.

"Courtroom workers have an exemplary and important custom of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Courtroom and the group of public servants who work here," he stated.

The publication of the draft opinion rocked Washington, triggering waves of shock and fury from Democrats who are actually pushing for Congress to right away codify abortion rights through laws.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and plenty of known as for the type of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting choices about abortion in the fingers 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 courtroom that has moved sharply to the proper 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 precise to get an abortion earlier than the point of fetal viability and require that regulations limiting abortion entry don't pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the court docket in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies's Health Organization would aspect with the state of Mississippi in defense of a law that may 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 choices.

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