While Monday evening’s Politico story was a bombshell, we’ve actually known for months that Roe v. Wade would be overturned. We knew that Roe would be overturned as soon as the oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization commenced in early December 2021. It was clear from the Supreme Court justices’ questions that they found Dobbs the perfect anti-choice “test case” to dismantle reproductive rights and overturn Roe. The shocking part – I guess? – is that someone leaked the decision in May, when we were only supposed to find out in June, when the Dobbs decision is formally released by the Court at the end of their session. That leak to Politico has now (bizarrely) become the focus of Chief Justice Roberts and the entire Republican Party.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Tuesday that the leaked draft opinion proposing to overturn Roe v. Wade is authentic but not final, and that he is opening an investigation into how it became public.
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed,” Roberts said. “The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.”
While Roberts’s statement said the draft provided to Politico was genuine, “it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Politico’s report said that five justices had decided to uphold a Mississippi law that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and overturn the decision that established a constitutional right to abortion nearly 50 years ago.
Roberts’s news release was another extraordinary deviation from the court’s normal procedures, which generally entails paying no attention to outside influences. It was a sign that Roe v. Wade is too important, and the breach of Supreme Court operations too monumental, to ignore. It was not immediately clear whether the court intends to disclose publicly the results of its investigation.
Republican politicians in particular have called for an investigation into the leak, which some have seen as an attempt to put pressure on justices who may be inclined to strike down Roe instead to modify their decisions.
I think Chief Justice Roberts is mad on several levels, about several different things. One, he’s not included in the majority decision which was leaked to Politico. No one knows if he abstained or if he joined the “liberal justices.” Two, he’s mad because the leak actually is unprecedented, even if we usually have a good idea how the Court will vote given the oral arguments (which are public, released in real time). There’s never been a leak of an actual majority-opinion draft before, which suggests that it’s someone very close to one of the justices, or perhaps even one of the justices. It’s also clear that Republicans believe that it was leaked by one of the liberal justices or one of their clerks… although there are definitely some theories that it was leaked as a brag from some right-wing clerk. Three… Chief Justice Roberts is mad that he’s overseeing a Court which is distrusted, disrespected and dysfunctional.
In any case, Roberts is absolutely saying that Roe is being overturned but that they haven’t decided who writes the majority and minority opinions. They were all prepared to drop the Hobbs decision, overturn Roe and head off on their summer vacations in June. Now they have to deal with actual political blowback.
BREAKING: Chief Justice John Roberts has directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, which Roberts verified as an authentic document pic.twitter.com/vcq4lTY7bk
— John Kruzel (@johnkruzel) May 3, 2022
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… because a court’s decision is entitled to more privacy than women.
If only they were just as outraged by state governments forcing women to give birth to their rapists’ babies.
During the 90s I lived in an area where the abortion clinics were closed down (they never returned). I woman I knew was unable to get an abortion, decided to keep her child, and the man who raped her was an exboyfriend. He was also granted partial custody of the child. My point is that not everyone will decide to give up their baby, and this can lead to emotional distress that is rarely discussed in addition to the obvious.
Or the fact that they have 2 justices who blatantly lied to Congress when asked their views of Roe v Wade. The Court has lost all credibility.
I’ve always found the “rape exception” to be a cheap cop out. A way of claiming to be “pro-choice” in words but not in practice. How do you “prove” that the baby was conceived by rape? Wouldn’t that require a full criminal trial and conviction, and then hope any such conviction is not appealed? And of course, that doesn’t factor in the time before a victim even knows she’s pregnant.
You either support the right to make the choice to have an abortion, or you don’t. If you only support the “rape exception” then you don’t.
This!!!!!!!!
Damn straight.
What integrity of the court? Australia is missing some kangaroos.
My thoughts exactly. He needs to be more worried about the Justices and their impact on democracy.
The court lost credibility in Bush v Gore, when they stopped the count in Florida and handed the presidency to W. Bush. Fun fact: Roberts, Kavanaugh, and ACB all worked on team Bush for that case and were rewarded with lifetime SC appointments.
It lost further credibility with Citizens United.
Now it is nothing but a theocratic joke. Too bad the joke’s on us.
I’m glad to see posts about this on the site. I know it’s a gossip site, but there are so many smart people on here. I love reading the intelligent comments about things that truly matter just as much as I like some royal/celebrity gossip snark. Thanks, ‘bitchies.
“The court lost credibility in Bush v Gore, when they stopped the count in Florida and handed the presidency to W. Bush”
Yes, this. At least that’s when it happened for the people who were paying attention. I suspect that now even more people will realize what has happened.
Even “funner” Bush v Gore SCOTUS fact. It was recommended that both Thomas and Scalia recuse themselves from that decision due to their direct relatives involvement in Bush’s campaign. They did not.
EllenOlenska, of course they didn’t recuse themselves. I think it’s become very apparent that the Justices on the US Supreme Court are not required to have ethics, and by lying in Senate hearings they show that they don’t have to have morals either. What “integrity” is John Roberts worried about? The Court as a whole has no integrity.
The leaking of this draft decision is important enough to warrant an investigation. Clarence Thomas’ involvement with his wife’s activities, however, do not. There simply isn’t much left to respect about this court. Don’t scream at us about integrity, John Roberts, when you’ve done nothing to require the same rules for the SCOTUS Justices as every other Judge in the country is required to follow.
The thing that upsets me even more is the fact that they far right have eroded the separation of powers in this country. It’s clear that’s been a goal for some time and they’ve finally accomplished it. I can only hope that people recognize how far we’re getting from a true democracy and vote blue.
THIS.
Should the person(s) who leaked the document be discovered, what crime can they be charged with?
Nothing if the leaker turns out to be a conservative.
Politico is a right wing rag owned by a right wing nut job. No liberal clerk is going to give Politico a scoop.
Good point. I’m glad this dysfunctional court is being exposed for their lying and corruption. They did nothing to Clarence Thomas and his wife for their part the insurrection but it’s okay to overturn settled law? I could care less who released this info, it’s info we would have heard in a few weeks anyway. We marched yesterday at Foley Square, great turnout of both men and women. The Republicans I’m sure are horrified about how incensed and organized we are to vote and protect not only women’s rights but all human rights. My country has brought me a sense of dread.
I listen to a podcast about law/courts, and they noted that Ginni Thomas regularly emails with all of Justice Thomas’s clerks as well as conservative organizations. She was working with them on the insurrection. One theory is that she sent them a draft of the judgement as a premature victory lap, and that’s how it got out.
It’s kind of a stretch, but at the same time, we know from evidence that Ginni has been irresponsible in her relationship to the court and the information that she shares with people.
All law clerks at the court take an oath not to disclose anything that happens at the court. They could definitely be tried with a crime and at the very least would be disbarred. These law clerks are just starting their careers and all have high level legal jobs awaiting them. No way would a law clerk leak it- too much at stake for them. I think it’s a justice. My guess is one of the conservative ones who is trying to keep one of the other conservative ones from going with Roberts. Because if Roberts gets just one vote from the majority, the leaked opinion would only be a plurality opinion – and all that firmly rooted value nonsense test Alito wants to create would not become law of the land (although this statute in particular would stand).
And what could happen to a justice who leaked? Well, impeachment is the only way- good luck with that
They couldn’t be charged with a crime because there is no law against it! You can’t be charged with crimes if no laws were broken.
Can they be punished in their career? Yes. But not criminally.
“undermine the integrity of our operations”
Bitch your operations would have to have integrity to lose it.
Speaking from the legal field outside (thankfully!!) of the United States. Any respect or integrity your court once had was gone from the day that game show host started putting unqualified stooges on the bench. The end.
Exactly!
Roe v Wade was actually leaked in 1973. It is rare that decisions are leaked before they are released, but it has happened.
My bet is that a Conservative clerk leaked it. Alito wrote the decision in February and it would be on track in early May to start going through changes before it is released in June. I think this is to put pressure on the Conservative judges to keep Alito’s vision and not capitulate to pressure.
There’s no incentive for a liberal clerk to leak this – there’s no benefit to leaking it now. That would cause the Conservatives to dig in, not change their minds.
And the fact that Mitch McConnell (and all of Fox News) latched onto the leak so quickly to try to elevate it above the grotesque ruling itself makes me think he had something to do with it.
Maybe a liberal clerk released it to motivate voters for primary elections?
No need. Primary elections just determine who is going to be the party’s candidate, they don’t determine the final result of who is going to Congress and many primaries aren’t until later when the actual decision will be released in June.
If voter turnout was the goal, it would be smarter to let it come out as scheduled, closer to general elections. Then the outrage would be fresher and motivate people to show up at the general election. Let’s face it, in less than a month, the outrage will have died down, so when the actual opinion is released, it will be more a ripple and less a tsunami.
“If voter turnout was the goal, it would be smarter to let it come out as scheduled, closer to general elections. ”
…but the schedule would have it released in June, so May isn’t that much earlier. June isn’t really close to general elections. The court’s term ends in October, but decisions are released in mid-June. This decision was never going to be released in late summer or fall.
@Bookie – I agree with everything you have said here. The conservatives want to make the leak the story, not the horror show that is the opinion itself. There was no crime committed in leaking a draft opinion, but if it was one of the liberal justice’s clerks, they have torpedoed their career. If it was one of the conservative justice’s clerks, they just got themselves a quiet (well-paid) job with the Federalist Society.
It was 100% a conservative clerk-it would have come out in June with the opinion and that would have been better for the left to keep everyone angry through the primary.
I was reading from several former SC clerks and they all agreed it was most likely a right wing clerk. The draft was circulated in February-if a liberal was mad about it why wait until April to leak? There’s no benefit of leaking early.
The most likely impact of the leak is that it locks in the majority votes without edits because it’s the most extreme version. May is when concurrences drafts come out. Roberts had just started circulating his draft of upholding Roe while keeping this law in place.
Yes there was a great Twitter thread yesterday from Amy Kapczynski, a Yale Law prof who used to be a Supreme Court clerk, who had a similar theory and it makes sense.
If it’s not a conservative clerk it is likely Thomas or his wife because they don’t give a shit about the law, civility or anything at this point. The release of the draft freezes the opinion as is and if there was a shaky conservative judge (my guess is Brad mc beer ) now that person can’t change their position. Roberts likely wanted a restriction but not a full over turn.
The liberal judges and their clerks have no reason to break norms like this because it won’t change the anti choice judges from deciding to restrict abortion rights, be it completely or partially. Besides in legal circles, the more liberal type law firms and organizations and the centrist ones would not view the leaker as a hero, but as someone radical and unhireable. Law students are for the most part not radical especially when it comes to their future career. They are pragmatic and won’t take risks. The legal profession is very conservative, especially the large firms and they don’t want people they think might be a whistleblower blower on them.
The person who leaked this is a radical and likely has a federalist society position secured already. It is the act of a cultist who is so blind to the issue that they don’t care about the ethics of the profession and will cross any lines to get what they want. It is the current far right mentality. They have gotten away with breaking the rules from within the establishment and it is exactly what a Thomas or Alito hired clerk is likely to do.
++
I think Ginni Thomas is the guilty party
A million percent agree with this assessment.
I agree with the Thomas wife theory – she could distract from her insurrection scandal and the ruling will ensure they are well protected by the GOP.
Leaks have been done before especially by conservative Republicans. The MO is that some modifications will be made then the Republicans say, “see you liberals were upset about nothing”.
So I’m back and forth here, but I can kind of see this scenario. When the ruling comes out and its only upholding the Mississippi law, not overruling Roe completely, the liberals will say “oh okay so they’re not actually going to do that.” So its a move that works to get liberals fired up NOW, then when the actual decision comes out, liberals will shrug and say “so that wasn’t as bad as we were expecting” and that outrage goes away.
But I think I also agree with Nic and others that this was about locking in the right wing votes and making sure this decision is the final decision. I think that is the most likely scenario here.
I concur. Alito is using the majority agreement like a HAMMER against the cosigners.
Stupid distraction; if the leak is legit and it is eventually public info anyway, what’s it matter when we find out? I wonder if the court had the release of the decision timed for a certain reason, maybe hoping to avoid coinciding with primaries?
Or, I wonder if Roberts is still trying to talk the other Republicans into changing/soften their stances? Maybe he secretly doesn’t want to be known as the guy who let the court kill Roe. Or is upset that the decision was written in such a way as to open the door to overturning so much other privacy based law.
Frankly, I wonder if Roberts sees the Handmaids on the wall and is trying to slow the decent into Gilead. And is pissed this leak came before he could persuade his colleagues to tone down the rhetoric.
“Or, I wonder if Roberts is still trying to talk the other Republicans into changing/soften their stances?”
He was. The Washington Post reported on it a few days before the leak. Which leads to one theory being that a conservative clerk was behind the leak in order to lock the conservative judges into their current positions.
Either way, Roberts and Republican fully support overturning Roe. They just know that it’s not a popular opinion with the American people, so they just want to focus on the leak instead of addressing the actual issue.
Roberts potentially has a win-win situation for conservatives here: as the conservative voting against RvW, he can portray the image of someone against getting rid of it, while at the same time he gets what he wants. Once the vote is 5-4 it doesn’t matter what Roberts does here. I am personally not convinced that he is gutted by Alito et al’s decision.
DOJ too busy investigating insurrection aided by wife of Court judge to bother with something that broke no law.
How about issuing opinions supported by judges who lied to the Senate during confirmation hearings?
Roberts is miffed that his shoddy and politically corrupt court is being exposed for what it is.
Likely leaked by Alito fan to ensure no deviation from this nasty regressive ruling. Roberts lost his wiggle room and can’t cover his ass. He wanted to pretend he’s more moderate but now that’s hard.
And Ginni Thomas is the number one suspect.here. Her involvement needs to be investigated. Her husband, at the least, needs to recuse himself. If he had any integrity, he would resign.
So annoyed that the news is paying more attention to the leak than the fact that millions of women are about to lose their bodily autonomy.
It is unprecedented for a Chief Justice to have so little control of his Court as Roberts does and it is the conservative justices, not the liberals, who are causing him problems. Thomas and Alito are emboldened by the illegitimate appointments of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, two of whom are completely unqualified for different reasons (Kavanaugh’s 83 counts of judicial ethics violations in addition to his history of a sexual predator and Barrett lacking any experience or intelligence whatsoever.)
The conservative pundits were all ready to pin the leak on a clerk of Sotomayor within minutes of the Politico story breaking. Such coordination of a story so quickly points to it being a leak from one of the conservative justices, not Sotomayor., and the pundits were tipped off in advance. Sotomayor would have nothing to gain from leaking an opinion that has been floating around for 2 months now.
Who does have something to gain? Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you Justice Clarence Thomas. There are two reasons why it is likely Thomas. First, it is very likely one of the five was wavering on the “burn it all down” rhetoric in Alito’s decision and was not quite ready to throw out stare decisis – likely Kavanaugh was wavering, he has shown more respect for precedent than the others – releasing the opinion with the vote totals locks them in because a Justice changing a vote would have to explain why. Also, Thomas’s wife Ginny is coming under increasing scrutiny for her role in the January 6 insurrection. This news deflects attention from her. Also, Ginny has made it known in the past that she discusses cases with him AND his clerks. She very likely got hold of this draft opinion and saw an opportunity to get the decision she wanted and pin attention elsewhere.
I agree that this could either have been Thomas, Ginni or their clerks. They don’t care about the law anymore after all they are complicit in an insurrection attempt and getting away with it so far.
And the second I saw McConnell blame a liberal judge or clerk for this I knew it was from a conservative judge or clerk. The talking points were way too coordinated by the morning.
I agree. Mitch’s fake outrage reminds me of Putin lying about safe evacuation zones while bombing civilians.
And during the press conference with Mitch, that golem Rick Scott had a telling glint in his eyes, while the guy next to him was looking all over the place like he was afraid of getting caught.
Many great points, Lightpurple!
I was HORRIFIED when I saw multiple Twitter accounts target Sotomayor almost immediately. They were making accusations so quickly it was surprising, but looking back, you are probably right. It was probably coordinated.
Unfortunately it’s not that easy for women in Texas and other states who could be sued for getting reproductive care. Low-income women not only need financial help to travel out of state but also help paying for a procedure.
The Senate is not on our side, because states with small populations (rural/conservative) have equal footing with larger population states.
However, corporations respond to the numbers. In terms of sheer buying power, we far outnumber the red states. We can organize to pressure corporations to use their influence on legislators.
@ Sal, I really like your idea of making those who support Republican lawmakers pay… This seemed to work for Disney, for example. Does anyone have a link to companies that benefit Republicans by contributing to their political funds?
It does seem like the GOP is worried about popular opinion influencing corporations, since the GOP is actively working against the sentiments of most Americans. When it comes down to it, they need the corporate backing.
Their “Get Woke, Go Broke” motto is nothing but a bluff.
Not sure about a list of corporations, but I think it’s pretty easy to find out where some of them have headquarters. I know AT&T has headquarters in Texas. It would be great to compile a list to circulate!
For a list of corporations check with sleeping giants.
@SouthernFried, I googled “sleeping giants” and the results were a book by Sylvain Neuvel and (potentially) a band? I live in Europe, which may be messing with my results? Am I missing something?
@ML, sorry, try slpng-giants on Twitter
@SouthernFried, Thank you, this works👍😊
I know this is a little tinfoil hat, but I think this was leaked by one of Thomas’s clerks. There’s no real benefit to leaking by a liberal clerk, plus let’s face it the sort of people who clerk for the liberal justices tend to follow laws and rules, unlike those that clerk for (noted sexual harasser) Thomas – Thomas, whose wife was instrumental in plotting the Jan 6 coup and spreading the Big Lie and who refuses to recuse himself from cases involving her.
This was an old draft that was leaked to prevent any softening of the crazy hard line laid out in the draft – not only overturning roe but also trying to establish a basis for fetal personhood and thus the foundation for a federal law banning abortion nationally. If some of the 5 justices (Kavanaugh maybe?) were getting a little wish-washy on that and considering signing on to Roberts’ option, leaking this draft puts them on record as being with the hard liners and thus makes it very difficult for them to push for softer language in the majority opinion or to switch to Roberts’ less harsh one.
But of course the right wing press will suddenly change their tune on how this leak is sooooo devastating and wrong once it comes out it was leaked by a conservative.
I think it was leaked by Thomas’s wife or one of his clerks working with her, for the solid reasons you state and to distract from her treasonous acts.
I think Uncle Thomas gave his wife a copy to his wife to read. She leaked it.
My money is on Uncle Thomas or Ginni as well.
I don’t think it’s tin foil at all to suspect Thomas. He’s got an appointment for life and already is linked to the treasonous activities of his wife. Leaking a draft opinion is nothing for him.
The draft is so extreme in part because it attacks rulings that so many other decisions have been based on. Perhaps some of the conservative members were hesitant about blowing up all of those decisions in one fell swoop, and this was meant to nail them in place.
Hmmmm. Ginny Thomas IS evil and diabolical. I can easily see Clarance leaving his computer wide open and then *someone very familiar with the files sending the draft to Politico.
Oh hell Ginny probably reads and knows everything, more than Clarence. He’s not exactly known for brain power or work ethic since joining the Supremes.
I’m still so fucking angry.
My coworker (a hardcore republican) in her 50’s and I were talking about this yesterday and we were both in tears about this and she shared with me that she actually had 3 abortions when she was younger. I wish that we could all sit down regardless of our differences and share our stories. I didn’t expect her to share that at all, and I was so thankful that she did. We’re both terrified of what this means for all women, and I’m thankful we found some common ground on such a divisive issue.
She is the reason why we’re here today. As long as she wasn’t affected before, she was OK with being a hardcore Republican. But now it’s starting to catch up that by not protecting the most vulnerable, she wasn’t protecting herself. This will be a hard lesson for many Republican women, but most will be OK. I imagine abortion vacations to Canada or Europe will be a new thing.
Do you think your coworker will still continue to vote Republican in the future?
“She is the reason why we’re here today”
Say it! If any of them cry to me I will pass them a red solo cup, and say here cry into this so I can drink it later.
Yep.
So many White women were fine with demonizing abortion because they never thought they’d catch the car and that they, the “good” women, would be protected. It would just be those poor women and brown women who would get caught up. Three abortions and she never thought to reexamine her own politics? JFC.
Reminded of the evergreen tweet “I never thought the leopards would eat MY face! -says woman who voted for the Leopards Eating Faces party.
THIS.
Anyone who voted Republican since Reagan was in office helped make this happen. If you are truly pro choice you can never vote for that party. And maybe they fooled people in the 80s but by the time Newt Gingrich showed up in the 90s it was out in the open. Individual pro choice GOP reps are irrelevant.
So those are crocodile tears from someone who will never have to face that choice again in her 50s.
She should have thought about that before casting her vote for republicans, especially in the last decade or so. It’s not like they’ve been hiding their intentions.
+1
How it got out should be the least of his concerns. Women’s rights are about to be taken away.
I’m going to need the FBI to investigate disgusting, treasonous Clarence Thomas and his psychotic, treasonous wife before they even glance at this leak.
This–and the likely illegal shenanigans that got Gorsuch on the court.
Hope Roberts never ever gets a good night’s rest. He thought he was so much smarter than everyone else and has worked harder than hell on his legacy. He doesn’t want HIS court to be disrespected for all of history. Actually I think he’s been miserable for quite a while now having to deal with not only his idiotic incompetent gop colleagues but also desiring the respect of our liberal, intelligent justices. Ha! Burn in your own hell, Roberts.
First attempt didn’t make it through moderation.
Find your nearest state that has laws protecting abortion rights. If this goes through you can still have safe health care. States are protecting themselves.
Maybe in the final draft they’ll drop the footnote mentioning that some historical pro-choice activists had intentions of eugenics and limiting the African-American population because, they note, a disproportionate number of abortions are by black women. I can’t even
Given that none of these people who champion that argument have ever done anything to address the horrific ways Black mothers are treated both in hospitalization and out and the Black maternal mortality rate, it’s obvious not even they believe in those kinds of footnotes.
Black women have as much of a right to abortion as anyone else.
They loooooove bringing up Margaret Sanger who, FTR, had the support of the Black women in those communities because they understood that planned, wanted pregnancies mean healthier, wealthier, happy families.
And they never want to discuss the systemic racism and things that would lead more Black women to seek abortions.
As always, the right’s pearl clutching outrage is on the wrong thing. It’s always distract and divert with these people.
Distract, distract, distract. He and the media want to keep us focused on this witch hunt instead of the fact that they are stripping this right away.
If it turns out it was a sitting Justice or even the spouse of one, I want an impeachment trial. Anyone else can simply be fired. I wouldn’t be shocked if it were from Breyer, who has one foot out of the door and probably gives zero f*cks.
GOP’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s draft leak RE: overturning Roe v. Wade
Lindsay Graham: “Radical assault on our institution”
Mitch McConnell: “Law less act” most likely carried about by the “radical left” (Really? do you know who leaked this, Mitch???)
Sean Hannity: Immediately deemed the leak an “insurrection” upon the Supreme Court
HUH??? Fox News still won’t admit on air that 1/6 was a domestic terror attack and Insurrection upon the Capital (despite text messages from several of its prominent anchors to Mark Meadows begging Trump to call off the attack). Yet they are willing after just hours of this news breaking – to label this leak an “Insurrection”
AND that…is how we start to spin the narrative. Focus on the “leak” and compare it to the attack on Jan. 6th.
Don’t get me wrong, what happened with the Supreme Court is a huge breach in their code, conduct and undermines their integrity – full stop. But as Kaiser so aptly put, this Supreme Court IS dysfunctional and disrespected. Kavanagh and Gorsuch both SAID in their confirmation hearings that they would respect the law and precedent in relation to overturning Roe, and here we a
Mitch McConnell started this process by stonewalling Merrick Garland’s nomination from Obama, some ten months before he had to leave office. Then POS Orange Cheeto was allowed to push Amy Coney Barrett through with like a month left in office. Yes, this was a long-drawn-out plan by the GOP, and they succeeded in getting a conservative majority and this was endgame for them!
Although I can see motives for both a liberal/conservative leak for this draft. I know the GOP is screaming it was done by the “radical left”, and there can be a case for that. Perhaps a liberal clerk did do that, in the hopes of mobilizing this kind of attention and anger in their base, to get people to vote in the midterms. Let’s face it – the Dems are poised to get crushed this November. AND I can definitely now see, how a conservative clerk (or Thomas/wife combo) might have done it too. In essence to force all five judges to maintain their majority vote. As others have commented here though, soooo beside the point! Millions of women are poised to lose access to their autonomy; I have never been so fucking angry!!
FWIW, I hope the leak is from one of the conservative judges/clerks just so Mitch and Lindsey have to eat sh*t.
@Mrs. Smith OH so do I, trust me! I loathe & despise them, and so many of the GOP with every ounce of my being!!
We are living in an extremist state. It’s scary.
Legal Celebitches weigh in, please—-Unless the draft was criminally obtained (like via hacking), there’s nothing for the FBI to do. It isn’t illegal to leak the draft, just unethical and would probably end in disbarment. IANAL, but this is my understanding.
Also, two sexual predators and a gaggle of religious zealots who not only perjured themselves, but have no interest in maintaining separation of church and state.
Fuck this court.
I saw somewhere they were tying to pin the leak on Ketanji Brown Jackson. Um, they will find any way to blame stuff on black women.
How about the FBI actually investigates Kavanaugh instead of the shame investigation during the confirmation hearing? How about investigating Ginni Thomas and her role in the Jan 6th insurrection? Or the cozy businesses and perks Ginni Thomas received?
Fact is the SCOTUS has NO code of ethics. All the courts below the SC have one and must follow it. That’s why Clarence Thomas refused to recuse himself from court cases where there are clear conflicts (including Roe which he and his wife have benefitted monetarily with her consulting business). Roberts has not exerted any effort to stop such self dealing.
Roberts is exhibiting faux outrage here.
💯 x 💯
Although I do think Roberts is actually mad because the leak makes him look bad.
Yes, investigate that too.
I want to add to the record the shocking (but not surprising) appalling treatment of the poorest and most vulnerable in Mississippi, for example. The Trump-supported governor’s office cleaned out the federal welfare account of $97 million (!!) and spent it on themselves. It’s an outright and poorly covered scheme and when the state auditor (who has ALL the receipts) alerted the Trump admin about it, they just shrugged and looked the other way. It’s not just this disgusting Supreme Court ruling, but vast and terrible criminal acts in a lot of states.
All Roberts cares about is “his court’s” name getting dragged into the tenth level of infamy hell. Period.
All Roberts has ever cared about is his legacy. Well here it is, Bobby! Choke on it.
A pox on all their houses.