Officials at the Supreme Court are still acting like it wasn’t Justice Samuel Alito or one or more of his fellow conservatives who purposely leaked the draft of the court’s pending overturn of Roe v Wade and conducting a pretend investigation, asking clerks to share their phone records to determine which if any contacted the Politico reporters who published the draft, CNN reports.
The leak, which was unlikely to be an actual crime as the secrecy of the Supreme Court is governed only by professional and institutional norms rather than any sort of security clearances like at the Defense or Justice Departments, is being investigated by the court’s marshal, former Army colonel and lawyer Gail Curley. The clerks themselves for their part are resisting the investigation, retaining outside counsel to keep their personal shit from the court’s prying eyes. CNN estimates that as many as 75 or more different people working within the court would have had access to the document and any one could have been the leaker… even as many observers believe it was more likely than not the leak was sanctioned or initiated by the opinion’s author, Justice Samuel Alito in order to soften the inevitable uproar when the decision is officially handed down and/or lock in the majority to prevent a defection of one of the Conservative justices.