OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas derided the leak of the Supreme Court draft decision that, if it stands, would end Roe V Wade and warned it could mean the end of the Supreme Court as we know it.
On Friday he spoke to a conference of black conservatives where he compared the leak to “infidelity,” Politico reported.
“I wonder how long we’re going to have these institutions at the rate we’re undermining them, and then I wonder when they’re gone or destabilized what we will have as a country and I don’t think the prospects are good if we continue to lose them,” the 73-year-old Justice said.
“When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I’m in, it changes the institution fundamentally. You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s like kind of an infidelity – that you can explain it but you can’t undo it,” he said.
As he took questions from the audience one person asked him if the court has changed since he was confirmed in 1991.
“This is not the court of that era. I sat with (famously liberal justice) Ruth Ginsburg for almost 30 years and she was actually an easy colleague to deal with… We may have been a dysfunctional family, but we were a family,” the Justice said.
“Anybody who would, for example, have an attitude to leak documents, that is your general attitude, that is your future on the bench,” he said.
He also took aim at the protests that have been happening at the homes of conservative Justices since the leak was published.
“You would never visit Supreme Court justices’ houses when things didn´t go our way. We didn´t throw temper tantrums. I think it is … incumbent on us to always act appropriately and not to repay tit for tat,” he said.
Last week homas has dropped the hammer on the protesters who are furious at the leaked draft opinion that purports to end Roe V Wade protections for abortion.
The Associate Justice, who appeared on the majority in ending Roe V Wade, spoke at a judicial conference on Friday and said that the court cannot be “bullied” into doing what certain people want them to do, Reuters reported.
The Justice warned that as a society, “we are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don’t like.”
“We can’t be an institution that can be bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want. The events from earlier this week are a symptom of that,” he said.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who spoke at the same conference said that the leak “absolutely appalling” and said that it would not effect the final decision.
“A leak of this stature is absolutely appalling,” he said. “If the person behind it thinks that it will affect our work, that’s just foolish.”
On Tuesday the Chief Justice confirmed in a press release that the leaked draft published by Politico was authentic and that he has instructed the court’s Marshal to take action.
“Yesterday, a news organization published a copy of a draft opinion in a pending case. Justices circulate draft opinions internally as a routine and essential part of the Court’s confidential deliberative work. Although the document described in yesterday’s reports is authentic, it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case,” the press release said.
“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 work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” the Chief Justice said.
“We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce – permanent employees and law clerks alike – intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law. Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,” he argued.
“I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak,” he said.
