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

Professional-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest outdoors the U.S. Supreme Courtroom after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito preparing for a majority of the court docket to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision later this 12 months, in Washington, U.S., Could 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft court opinion that will toss out longstanding abortion rights, however famous that is not the courtroom's closing decision.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

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

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

The advance publication of a draft opinion is nearly unprecedented for the high court docket, the place leaks of any kind are exceedingly rare.

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

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

The justices, legislation clerks and different employees of the courtroom are "intensely loyal to the institution and devoted to the rule of law," Roberts said.

"Court staff have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Courtroom. This was a singular and egregious breach of that belief that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here," he mentioned.

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

Republicans decried the leak itself, and plenty of called for the sort of investigation the Roberts introduced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for putting choices about abortion within the fingers of states instead of the federal government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one in every of six conservatives on a court that has moved sharply to the fitting within 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 right to get an abortion before the purpose of fetal viability and require that rules limiting abortion access don't pose an "undue burden."

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

The draft of the opinion of the courtroom in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls's Well being Group would facet with the state of Mississippi in protection of a regulation that will ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

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

That is breaking information. Please verify back for updates.