Report: SCOTUS clerks may lawyer up as leak hunt intensifies
Law clerks for the U.S. Supreme Court are reportedly preparing to lawyer up as the hunt intensifies for the leaker who gave to the press a draft majority opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Three unnamed sources who spoke to CNN Tuesday claimed that investigators are taking steps to require that clerks turn over their private cellphone records and sign affidavits in an unprecedented development.
In response, some clerks are reportedly considering whether to hire legal counsel. Doing so would not be unusual, legal experts told CNN.
"That's what similarly situated individuals would do in virtually any other government investigation," said an appellate lawyer with experience in government investigations. "It would be hypocritical for the Supreme Court to prevent its own employees from taking advantage of that fundamental legal protection."
Politico stirred nationwide controversy earlier this month when it published a draft majority opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case concerning Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. Alito's opinion upheld Mississippi's law, holding that Roe was wrongly decided, there is no constitutional right to an abortion, and states should be permitted to enact abortion laws according to the will of the people, as expressed through their elected representatives.
The report caused a political firestorm, with pro-abortion-rights groups becoming apoplectic and demanding immediate federal legislation to codify Roe v. Wade, which Democrats attempted to pass but could not get through the Senate filibuster. Left-wing protesters gathered outside the private residences of Republican-appointed justices, possibly illegally, demanding that they leave Roe intact.
Pro-lifers and Republicans largely welcomed the ruling, but many expressed concerns that Supreme Court norms had been grossly violated by the leak and that the institution of the court may have been irreparably damaged by it.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the leak was a "betrayal" and on May 3 ordered the marshal of the Supreme Court to find its source. According to CNN, Roberts met with all the court's law clerks as a group shortly after Politico's report, but whether they have been individually interviewed is unknown.
Supreme Court justices typically hire four law clerks each year. These young lawyers tend to be top graduates from prestigious law schools, the best of the best. Although many people have speculated that one or more of the clerks leaked Alito's draft to Politico, CNN reports that as many as 75 court staffers could have had access to the document.
An official court ruling on Dobbs has yet to be released and is expected sometime in June or early July.
Other members of the court have expressed dismay at the breach of trust the leak represents.
Justice Clarence Thomas likened it to "a kind of infidelity."
“Look where we are, where that trust or belief is gone forever,” Thomas said two weeks ago at a conference. "And when you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I’m in, it changes the institution fundamentally. You begin to look over your shoulder.”
Watch: MSNBC guest jokes that she'd like to 'make sweet love' to SCOTUS leaker and 'joyfully abort our fetus'
A Sunday show MSNBC panel cracked up after comedian guest Laurie Kilmartin joked that she'd like to "make sweet love" to the Supreme Court leaker, adding that if this person is discovered to be a Republican, she'd "joyfully abort our fetus and let them know."
Kilmartin, a staff writer for Conan O'Brien, made those comments on "Ayman" during a panel discussion on the bombshell leak of a draft majority Supreme Court opinion that would uphold Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban and overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Host Ayman Mohyeldin asked her and the other guests for their thoughts on a recent op-ed published by MSNBC that asserted Republican outrage at the leak is hypocritical and that "right-wingers are suddenly fans of propriety again is because so much of their political agenda requires using the Supreme Court to advance policy far too unpopular for the democratic process."
“Do you agree that this is going against the undemocratic will, but this is the only way Republicans can achieve this?” Mohyeldin asked Kilmartin.
"Yeah, I guess so," she said, before derailing the conversation with her take on the leaker.
"I would like to find out who the leaker is, so I could make sweet love to that person, because that person is a hero to me. Okay?" Kilmartin said, drawing chuckles from the other panelists.
"And if the leaker — a lot of people are saying it could be a conservative — if the leaker is a Republican, and if I get pregnant during our lovemaking, I will joyfully abort our fetus, and let them know," she added, deadpan, as Mohyeldin broke down laughing at the idea of a pro-life conservative being told his unborn child would be killed.
“I don’t know if that answered your question,” said Kilmartin. “I probably didn’t.”
“It was a little off topic,” Mohyeldin admitted with a big smile on his face.
After more discussion, Kilmartin told another joke about how Democrats should respond if Roe v. Wade is overturned that stupefied the panel.
“There’s obviously little bit of disappointment with the Democrats just over the last couple of years not rushing to codify Roe v. Wade when they had a supermajority during Obama. But what do you think they should be doing right now?” Mohyeldin asked her.
"Well, this is controversial, but I think that every Democratic member of Congress who’s over the age of 87 should go on a hunger strike for abortion rights, because let’s face it, they don’t have much longer anyway," Kilmartin suggested.
"You might as well go out a hero in a blaze of glory. Be the Bobby Sands of abortion!" she said, referring to the Irish Republican Army member who died of a hunger strike in 1981 while imprisoned in Northern Ireland for his role in the 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry.
“Okay — Laurie bringing the heat tonight,” Mohyeldin said after the stunned panel sat silent for several seconds.
“Guys, that’s my answer,” said Kilmartin, struggling to contain her laughter. “You know I am a comedian. I know we have like two very serious answers and then I’m just giving a joke, and everybody’s like, that’s a terrible policy. It is, guys. You don’t have to take me seriously.”
“Listen, that’s why we want you on the show, because we need a little levity,” Mohyeldin told her.
(h/t: Mediaite)
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