Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has stated that he has a “pretty good idea” of who was responsible for leaking the draft opinion that would eventually lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Alito claimed that he knew who likely leaked the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization draft decision, but that it is not enough for the court to just provide a name.
The draft decision was published by Politico on May 2, 2022.
Alito stated that while he has a “pretty good idea” about who was behind the leak, that’s “different from the level of proof” required in order for them to name someone. Alito added that the leak was made in an attempt to intimidate justices and to “prevent the Dobbs draft…from becoming the decision of the court.” He added that this was exactly how it had been used for six weeks by people outside the court and it had been part of an intimidation campaign to the court.
Alito has added that the leak also created division within the court, as it led to an “atmosphere of suspicion and distrust.” He noted that for the most part, this is something they had gotten overall and that they were now attempting to return to normal operations as much as possible. Still, the leak was “damaging.”
An investigation into the leak led by the Marshal of the Court previously failed to find who was responsible for the leak.
