Chief Justice John Roberts announced on Tuesday that he is immediately opening an investigation into the leak of the draft memo that Politico broke on Monday.
Roberts confirmed that the court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and had published the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. He also said that it does not represent the court’s final decision.
“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,” Roberts said.
“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 Marshall of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”
The leak is believed to have come from the staff of one of the liberal justices and could be from one of the justices themselves. The goal of this would be to pressure the conservative justices coming.
The draft is a pointed attack on the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion under the federal constitution. It also discusses the Planned Parenthood v. Casey that further sustained it.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he stated in the document, which is titled “Opinion of the Court.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
CBS News’ Elizabeth Campbell reported that Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts will likely enlist the FBI in investigating the SCOTUS leak of the abortion case.
“This is an unprecedented leak from SCOTUS. It raises questions about how the institution will ever recover, and how Chief Justice Roberts will respond,” Campbell posted. “Sources tonight tell [CBS News’ Jan Crawford] he is likely to order a full-blown investigation, involving the FBI, to determine the source.”
John Roberts has not made his decision yet in overturning Roe v Wade.
