Chief Justice John Roberts commented for the first time publicly about the leak of the draft opinion on the abortion case out of Mississippi in which the majority of the justices voted to send all abortion decisions back to the states for voters to sort out. If the draft decision holds, it would wipe from the books the Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood decisions.
At a federal judicial conference in Atlanta on Thursday, Roberts described the leak by a Supreme Court employee as “absolutely appalling.”
From colleagues Shannon Bream/Bill Mears. Speaking to the federal judicial conference in Atlanta today, Chief Justice John Roberts describes the leak of the SCOTUS draft as "absolutely appalling"
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 5, 2022
According to CNN, Roberts told the gathering that it was “foolish” if “the person or people” who leaked the draft opinion thought it would affect the work of the court.
It’s widely believed that, considering the 5-4 vote spread (which was also leaked to Politico earlier this week), Roberts sided, or partially sided, with the liberal wing of the court or was writing his own partial concurrence with the majority upholding the Mississippi law. The Mississippi law outlaws abortions after 15 weeks. Roberts preferred to keep Roe and Casey on the books. That sounds about right for the justice who appears to care more about the institution of the Supreme Court than getting rid of a zombie “precedent” excoriated by Justice Sam Alito’s majority draft opinion as being “egregiously” decided. Alito likened the “freewheeling” Roe decision to Plessy v. Ferguson, the notorious separate but equal decision of 1869 that extended Jim Crow laws in the south. That decision was later summarily cashiered by the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.
So much for precedent, and thank God for that.
We’ll see how much Robert loves his institution. Former Supreme Court law clerks Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee; TV anchor Laura Ingraham; and the head of the Article III Project, Mike Davis, all say the leak has changed the court, maybe for good. There will be a lack of comity and perhaps mutual distrust following this traitorous move, which Ted Cruz says was most certainly done by a “woke lefty twit” working for one of the three “liberal” justices.
To the extent his brain is aware of what's going on, Joe Biden should know how shameful it is that his White House has no opinion on law clerks leaking draft opinions.
The leak undermines the rule of law. But Biden is too afraid of the radicals in his Party! pic.twitter.com/U45r1yLKcJ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 5, 2022
It would be a change to see someone punished for outrageous and politically vain antics. The Left is already branding the leaker a hero, but he or she should be publicly shamed, disbarred, and escorted post haste from polite society.
But that’s unlikely. Just consider what their buddies are doing in the streets and online.
On Thursday afternoon, pro-abortion groups doxxed members of the U.S. Supreme Court, publicly outing their home addresses and vowing to do a “peaceful, walk by” of their homes on May 11.
One wonders if the same person who leaked the draft statement leaked these purposely hidden addresses.
Whether you’re a “Catholic for Choice”, ex-Catholic, of other or no faith, recognize that six extremist Catholics set out to overturn Roe. Stand at or in a local Catholic Church Sun May 8. #WarOnWomen #MothersDayStrike pic.twitter.com/v2vtpd12Gp
— Ruth Sent Us 🪧 (@RuthSentUs) May 3, 2022
Can we call this an insurrection yet?
Cruz was nearly as outraged that White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that the White House had no opinion about the leak. Cruz lambasted the president, a former judiciary committee chairman, saying that “somewhere, to the extent of his brain knows what’s going on, he knows how shameful it is that his White House is standing up there saying ‘we have no opinion of law clerks leaking draft Supreme Court opinions. That undermines the rule of law.”
Earlier in the week, Roberts issued a statement calling the leak “an affront” and “egregious.” He tapped the marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court Police to investigate. He’ll need to up his game to go after these people.
SCOTUS statement on the Dobbs leak. Justice Roberts calls it a "singular egregious" breach of trust. pic.twitter.com/zNoq4LxyKP
— Dorothy Atkins (@doratki) May 3, 2022
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