The leak of a draft majority opinion from the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade is an unprecedented breach of trust, and one that must be assumed was done with malice aforethought. The Court’s response should be to go about its business as usual and not be intimidated.
The question to ask in a leak case is always, cui bono? Who benefits? The Court confirmed Tuesday that the leaked draft by Justice
Samuel Alito
is real, so we doubt the leak came from the five Justices or their clerks in the apparent majority. What would they have to gain?
***
The leaker is probably someone who opposes the majority view and wants to bring outside pressure to bear on the Court to turn one of the Justices and sustain a constitutional right to abortion. The leak to Politico confirms our editorial speculation last week that five Justices voted after oral argument to overturn Roe. But as we reported, the pressure is intense to get one of them to turn, which has happened before.
In a classic of the lobbying genre, progressive law professor
Noah Feldman
devoted a long Bloomberg essay last August to telling Justice
Brett Kavanaugh
that saving Roe is his best chance to remove the stain of his confirmation fight. Anyone who believes that isn’t paying attention to Sen.
Sheldon Whitehouse
and the left. The end of April is the customary if unofficial date inside the Court for changing a vote, so the leak shortly after that date suggests the motive is to ramp up the outside pressure.
It is already succeeding, as the reaction from the left and the media has been apocalypse now. Mr. Feldman rushed out his view that the “Supreme Court Is Broken,” a meme to discredit the Court. But the person trying to break the Court is the leaker.
Democratic leaders
Nancy Pelosi
…