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 making ready for a majority of the court docket to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination 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 court docket opinion that will toss out longstanding abortion rights, but noted that is not the court docket's remaining 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 will not succeed," the chief justice mentioned in a statement. "The work of the Court won't be affected in any manner."

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

The advance publication of a draft opinion is just about unprecedented for the high court docket, where leaks of any variety are exceedingly uncommon.

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

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

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

"Court docket staff have an exemplary and necessary custom of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial course of and upholding the trust of the Court docket. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that's an affront to the Courtroom and the neighborhood 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 at the moment are pushing for Congress to right away codify abortion rights by legislation.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and plenty of referred to as for the sort of investigation the Roberts announced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for placing selections about abortion in the hands of states as a substitute of the federal government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one in all 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. Those pivotal rulings defend the fitting to get an abortion earlier than the purpose of fetal viability and require that laws limiting abortion access 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 in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls's Well being Group would side with the state of Mississippi in protection of a law that would ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Decrease federal courts had blocked the law on the grounds that it violates the protections established by the Roe and Casey choices.

That is breaking information. Please examine again for updates.