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Regardless of where you stand on abortion rights, you should be alarmed that someone leaked a draft of an unpublished opinion of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to Politico.
Politico bellows McConnell closes in on Roe after years of pushing the courts rightward: There’s a direct line from his decision to hold a high court vacancy open in 2016 to the potential demise of Supreme Court precedent — which sounds like the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade not only does away with two particular prior Court decisions but also invalidates stare decisis, a legal holding that current decisions should be made presuming the validity of prior decisions.
Hogwash.
Stare decisis does not mean that prior decisions can never be overturned.
You can read the draft copy here.
To me, the big story is the leak — someone at the Supreme Court threw honor to the winds in order to leak that draft.
An investigation has been ordered, according to a brief statement released by the Court:
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., provided the following statement:
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.
I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.
In my opinion, whoever leaked that draft should be barred from practicing law anywhere in the United States, at any level, and permanently barred from receiving a positive security clearance of any kind.
