OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Nearly three months after someone leaked the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade, there’s still no update on who the culprit is.
A report from the Associated Press reveals that the nation’s highest court has not provided any updates on the investigation nor has any new information been released to the public.
“Less than 24 hours after the unprecedented leak of the draft opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, Chief Justice John Roberts ordered an investigation into the egregious breach,” the AP reported.
“Since then? Silence. The Supreme Court won’t say whether it’s still investigating. The court also won’t say whether the leaker has been identified or whether anyone has been disciplined. Or whether an outside law firm or the FBI has been called in. Or whether the court will ever offer an accounting of what transpired. Or whether it has taken steps to try to prevent a repeat,” the AP added.
Chief Justice John Roberts released a statement stating that the court has “acted upon all cases submitted to the Court for decision this Term,” and will be in recess until the first Monday in October.
“On behalf of all the Justices, I would like to thank the Supreme Court employees for their outstanding work and dedication to their important responsibilities this Term,” Roberts said. “I thank the members of the Court’s bar as well for their professionalism and cooperation.”
But the Court has not given any information at all about the investigation into the leaker.
Last month, the Supreme Court released its decision in the highly-anticipated case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The court voted in favor of overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion.
In early May, a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico and it set off a firestorm.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito wrote in the leaked draft.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he wrote in the document. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. We, therefore, hold the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
“This leak was intended to intimidate the justices and threaten the whole institution of the Court. Now the Court is facing an all-out assault from the left with an assassination attempt on a sitting justice and elected Democrats declaring an entire branch of government ‘illegitimate,’” Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley said.
“Thankfully, the leak did not change the outcome of this monumental case, but we need to get to the bottom of what happened and ensure it never does again,” he added.
“I would hope that the Chief Justice is treating the investigation with great urgency given that the current clerks are nearly done with the term and he will soon lose whatever leverage he currently has,” Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino said.
She went on to suggest that “pressure to get to the bottom of the leak may wane” now that the court has issued its opinion on Dobbs.
“Unfortunately, a failure to identify and punish the culprit will only incentivize future leaks — serving to undermine the functioning of the Court and potentially endanger the justices,” she added.
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz also offered his opinion of who he believes the “leaker” could be.
To those points, the leak prompted attacks on Catholic churches, according to a Catholic Vote tracker, as well as dozens of pro-life pregnancy centers around the U.S.
Also, one man traveled across the country from California to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with the original intention of assassinating him. Thankfully, he called the police and turned himself in before attempting to do anything.
The man admitted to authorities that he sought to kill Kavanaugh.
