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The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it cannot identify the person who leaked a draft of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.
The high court released a 23 page report about his investigation into the leak, which rocked the political world when Politico published the draft opinion in May. The court has been trying to identify the person behind this and is continuing to investigate the matter.
However, the researchers also found fault with the court itself, saying that its security policies were outdated and that much of the system was based on trust, making it “too easy to remove sensitive information from the building.”
“It is not possible to determine the identity of any individual who may have released the document or how the draft opinion ended up on Politico,” the report says. “No one has confessed to publicly disclosing the document and none of the available forensic and other evidence provided a basis for identifying any individual as the source of the document.”
The Supreme Court announced that it cannot identify the person who leaked a draft of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
The leak of the draft opinion sparked outrage and protests
A cyber security breach was also ruled out.
“While the Court’s investigators and IT experts cannot absolutely rule out an attack, the evidence to date does not reveal any indication of improper external access.” the report said.
“After examining the Court’s available computing devices, networks, printers, and call and text message records, investigators have found no forensic evidence to indicate who disclosed the draft opinion,” the report stated.
The publication in Politico eight months ago of Samuel Alito’s draft opinion was the first time an opinion had been made public before the court was ready to announce it.
Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the inquiry the day after what he called an “appalling breach of trust”.
“To the extent that this betrayal of the Court’s confidences was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed,” he said at the time. “The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.”
The investigation was conducted by the bailiff of the court.
The court team “conducted 126 formal interviews with 97 employees, all of whom denied having disclosed the opinion,” according to the report.
Several court employees admitted that they had told their spouses or partners about the draft opinion, which is a violation of the court’s confidentiality rules.
None of those discussions were found to have led to a copy of the draft opinion being made public.
Investigators are still conducting their search.
Investigators continue to “review and process some electronic data that has been collected and some other inquiries remain pending,” the report noted.
“To the extent that further investigation yields new evidence or leads, investigators will pursue them.”
Investigators criticized the leaker as someone who “blatantly violated a system fundamentally built on trust.”
But they also conceded that there were “limited safeguards to regulate and restrict access to highly sensitive information.”
They blamed the COVID pandemic, and its remote work requirements, as well as “gaps in the Court’s security policies” for creating “an environment where it was all too easy to remove sensitive information from the building and IT networks.” of the Court, increasing the risk of both deliberate and accidental disclosures of confidential information of the Court.’
The Justices of the US Supreme Court: Seated (L-R): Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Elena Kagan. Standing (L-R): Judges Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson
The final opinion issued in the Dobbs case was strikingly similar to the draft opinion published by Politico. The post sparked fury from Democrats over the expected setback on abortion rights and suspicions from Republicans that the leak was made to ensure the draft opinion stood up.
The court’s five conservative justices struck down Roe, the landmark case that legalized abortion, with the ruling authored by Judge Samuel Alito.
Roberts sided with the three liberals on the court on the matter.
But the leak shook the court to its foundations. The secretory corps prided itself on its lack of leaks. And she frayed the relations between the judges.
Alito called the leak a “serious betrayal of trust by someone, and it came as a shock” that led to a “changed” atmosphere in court. Judge Clarence Thomas compared it to infidelity.
The decision also generated protests outside the court and threats to several of the magistrates. Alito and Judge Brett Kavanaugh had protesters outside DC area homes.