Supreme Court says leaked abortion draft is genuine; Roberts orders investigation into leak

Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators protest outdoors the U.S. Supreme Courtroom after the leak of a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito making ready for a majority of the court docket to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination later this year, in Washington, U.S., Could 3, 2022. 

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft court opinion that might toss out longstanding abortion rights, however famous that isn't the courtroom's remaining decision.

Roberts ordered an investigation into the leaker.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court docket was meant to undermine the integrity of our operations, it won't succeed," the chief justice said in a statement. "The work of the Courtroom will not be affected in any means."

"I've directed the Marshal of the Courtroom to launch an investigation into the supply of the leak," Roberts stated.

The advance publication of a draft opinion is virtually unprecedented for the high court, where leaks of any variety are exceedingly rare.

The court docket shares drafts of opinions internally long before they're issued publicly, Roberts noted, calling it "a routine and important a part of the Court's confidential deliberative work."

The draft on this high-profile abortion case was created in February, in response to Politico, which obtained the opinion.

The justices, legislation clerks and different workers of the courtroom are "intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of legislation," Roberts said.

"Court employees have an exemplary and essential tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the belief of the Courtroom. This was a singular and egregious breach of that belief that's an affront to the Court and the group of public servants who work here," he said.

The publication of the draft opinion rocked Washington, triggering waves of shock and fury from Democrats who at the moment are pushing for Congress to right away codify abortion rights through legislation.

Republicans decried the leak itself, and many known as for the form of investigation the Roberts introduced late Tuesday morning. The GOP lawmakers who commented on the draft opinion praised it for placing decisions about abortion in the arms of states instead of the federal government.

The 98-page draft opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito, one in all six conservatives on a courtroom that has moved sharply to the right in the wake of the Trump administration.

Alito's draft would toss out the precedent set by the 1973 case Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in 1992 by Deliberate Parenthood v. Casey. Those pivotal rulings shield the appropriate to get an abortion before the purpose of fetal viability and require that laws limiting abortion access do not pose an "undue burden."

Alito wrote: "We hold that Roe and Casey should be overruled."

The draft of the opinion of the court docket in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls's Health Group would side with the state of Mississippi in protection of a regulation that will ban nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant.

Lower federal courts had blocked the legislation on the grounds that it violates the protections established by the Roe and Casey choices.

That is breaking information. Please examine back for updates.