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 after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito making ready for a majority of the court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice later this yr, 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 would toss out longstanding abortion rights, but famous that is not the court docket's closing determination.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was supposed to undermine the integrity of our operations, it won't succeed," the chief justice said in an announcement. "The work of the Court will not be affected in any means."

"I have directed the Marshal of the Court docket to launch an investigation into the supply of the leak," Roberts mentioned.

The advance publication of a draft opinion is virtually unprecedented for the high court, where leaks of any form are exceedingly rare.

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

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

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

"Court docket staff have an exemplary and important custom of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court docket. This was a singular and egregious breach of that belief that's an affront to the Court docket and the group of public servants who work right here," he mentioned.

The publication of the draft opinion rocked Washington, triggering waves of shock and fury from Democrats who are actually pushing for Congress to instantly codify abortion rights by means of 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 putting selections about abortion in the palms of states as a substitute of the federal government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one among six conservatives on a court docket that has moved sharply to the suitable 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 shield the suitable to get an abortion earlier than the point 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 Women's Health Organization would facet with the state of Mississippi in protection of a law that may ban almost 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 decisions.

That is breaking information. Please test again for updates.