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

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest exterior 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 decision later this year, in Washington, U.S., May 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft court opinion that would toss out longstanding abortion rights, however noted that isn't the court docket's last resolution.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it is not going to succeed," the chief justice said in a statement. "The work of the Court docket is not going to be affected in any means."

"I have 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 virtually unprecedented for the excessive courtroom, the place leaks of any variety are exceedingly rare.

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

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

The justices, legislation clerks and other employees of the court are "intensely loyal to the establishment and dedicated to the rule of regulation," Roberts stated.

"Courtroom workers have an exemplary and necessary 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 trust that is an affront to the Courtroom and the group of public servants who work here," he said.

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

Republicans decried the leak itself, and many referred to as for the form of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for placing decisions about abortion in the arms of states as an alternative 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 fitting 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 Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These pivotal rulings protect the appropriate to get an abortion before the purpose of fetal viability and require that regulations limiting abortion access do not pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the court docket in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization would side with the state of Mississippi in defense of a regulation that might ban nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Decrease 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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