Chief Justice Says ‘Appalling’ Leak Won’t Change Outcome Of Case

The Washington Post: Chief Justice John Roberts Says Supreme Court Leak Won’t Alter Deliberations 
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told a crowd of judges and lawyers Thursday that the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade is “absolutely appalling,” but will not affect the final outcome of the court’s historic deliberations on the abortion issue. “A leak of this sort — let’s assume that’s what it is — is absolutely appalling, and if the people behind it, or person behind it, thinks that it’s going to have an effect on our decision process, that’s absolutely foolish,” Roberts told the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference meeting here. (Barnes, 5/5)

CNN: John Roberts Calls Supreme Court Leak 'Absolutely Appalling' 
Roberts was speaking at a meeting of lawyers and judges at the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference, while the court is on a brief recess. The justices will meet together again during their closed-door conference in Washington on May 12. ... Roberts did not want to completely overturn Roe v. Wade, meaning he would have dissented from part of the opinion, sources tell CNN, likely with the court's three liberals. The court has confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion, but stressed that it was not final and did not reflect the final position of any member of the court. (de Vogue and Cartaya, 5/5)

AP: It’s Chief Justice Roberts' Court, But Does He Still Lead? 
John Roberts is heading a Supreme Court in crisis. The chief justice has already ordered an investigation of the leak this week of a draft opinion suggesting the court could be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case legalizing abortion nationwide. What comes next could further test Roberts’ leadership of a court where his vote already appears less crucial in determining the outcome in contentious cases. “This is a time when the court is under siege, both externally and internally now,” said Roanoke College professor Todd Peppers, who writes about the court. “I just don’t think the spotlight has ever been brighter on the court in recent history.” (Gresko, 5/6)

Who leaked the draft opinion? —

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Hunt For Who Leaked Draft Roe V. Wade Opinion Has No Road Map 
The Supreme Court marshal tasked with finding out who leaked a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion-rights case, is a retired Army colonel with untested investigative powers to uncover the breach, which was extraordinary but might not be criminal. Gail Curley, whose public duties include calling the court to order with “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” will seek to determine the source who shared the draft, which was published Monday by Politico. (Gurman, 5/5)

NBC News: How The Supreme Court Could Proceed With The Roe Leak Probe
Administration officials said the Justice Department’s view, at this early stage, is that the leak did not constitute a federal crime. Accordingly, neither the FBI nor other federal law enforcement organizations are involved in any investigation, the officials said. Asked about the matter at a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland had nothing to add. “The chief justice has announced that the marshal of the court will be doing the investigation,” he said. (Williams, 5/5_

Newsweek: Ted Cruz Speculates Clerk Of Sonia Sotomayor 'Most Likely' Leaked Roe Draft
Texas Senator Ted Cruz speculated that a liberal law clerk, "most likely" for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, leaked the high court's majority draft opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade. ... On his podcast Verdict, Cruz and his co-host Michael Knowles discussed the SCOTUS leak and described it as "a big damn deal." Cruz said he didn't believe one of Alito's colleagues was behind the leak, but thinks a clerk from one of three liberal judges is behind the uproar. "I think it is very very likely a law clerk. And it is very very likely a law clerk for one of the three liberal justices," Cruz said. "If I were to guess, the most likely justice for whom the law clerk is clerking is Sonia Sotomayor because she's the most partisan of the justices." (McKnight, 5/5)

More news about the Supreme Court —

The New York Times: Draft Opinion Overturning Roe Raises A Question: Are More Precedents Next? 
As an appeals court judge, Samuel A. Alito Jr. repeatedly drew criticism from his colleagues for disrespecting precedents and established understandings of the law. Fellow judges said, for example, that one of his dissents ignored “our precedent” and another deviated from the axiom that laws must be interpreted “by well-recognized rules.” Two decades later, a leaked draft opinion shows that the Supreme Court may soon overturn precedents like Roe v. Wade and eliminate women’s constitutional right to have an abortion. Justice Alito wrote the draft, devoting 30 pages to arguing that it was unnecessary for the court to follow decisions that had affirmed abortion rights for nearly 50 years. (Savage, 5/5)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Leaked Abortion Opinion Rocks Washington’s World
People who pay attention to the Supreme Court have been expecting the justices to scale back the right to abortion when they issue their ruling on a Mississippi abortion law by the end of the current session. What no one expected was that a draft of that opinion — which called for a full overturn of the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision — would be leaked to Politico. The reaction has been swift and loud from both sides of the divisive debate and could affect the coming midterm elections. (5/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Judge Who Overturned California’s Prop. 8 Blasts Draft Roe V. Wade Opinion: ‘It Makes The Justices Look Like Politicians’
Retired Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has harsh words to describe the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade: “It’s just not a very impressive piece of work.” Walker, who famously overturned California’s Proposition 8 in a 2010 ruling that struck down a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, said a leaked version of the draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito has many flaws, but the most obvious is its lack of a clear rationale to undo a 50-year established legal precedent of a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. (Gardiner, 5/5)