Abortion opinion leak is just latest leftist assault on Supreme Court
May 5, 2022 | Texas
When Democrats think they control the Court, they want it to write laws. When they think they don’t, they want to destroy it
Very little in life leaves me speechless. But when news broke Monday night that someone leaked an entire draft of a majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, I was flabbergasted.
In over two centuries of our nation’s history, this has never happened. This leak is an unprecedented breach of the trust that every clerk, justice, and employee of the Supreme Court owes to the institution. It’s impossible to overstate the gravity of this ethical—and possibly legal—violation. The wound to the independence and integrity of the court may well be one from which the Court never fully recovers.
To drive home how much of a breach this is, let me tell you about my time as a Supreme Court law clerk. In 1996, I had the privilege of clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The clerks spend almost every waking moment with their justices, helping them read briefs, study case law, prepare for oral arguments, and draft their opinions. For a young lawyer, there is no better opportunity to learn and understand the real inner-workings of the Court. During my clerkship, Chief Justice Rehnquist became a teacher, a mentor, and a close friend. I was immensely fortunate to work for him…
The justices trust each other to negotiate privately and in good faith in order to reach well-reasoned opinions and then explain those decisions to the public in such a way that each member of the Court can agree with—or to give members time to dissent when they disagree. Similarly, the justices rely on their clerks and staff because they trust that his or her inner deliberations are sacrosanct. These procedures are integral to the Supreme Court’s deliberative process…. (Excerpt from Fox News.com)
