{"id":2235197,"date":"2024-05-02T05:33:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T09:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-new-normal-how-the-supreme-court-weathered-the-dobbs-leak\/"},"modified":"2024-05-02T05:39:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T09:39:45","slug":"a-new-normal-how-the-supreme-court-weathered-the-dobbs-leak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-new-normal-how-the-supreme-court-weathered-the-dobbs-leak\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Change: The Supreme Court and the Dobbs Leak"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-new-normal-how-the-supreme-court-weathered-the-dobbs-leak%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2235197&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Retired Supreme\u2062 Court Justice Stephen Breyer expressed regret over the \u2062leak of\u2062 the decision on\u200b Roe\u2063 v. Wade, stressing the importance of \u200bmaintaining composure amid challenges.The leak raised concerns within the Court and led to slower case decisions. \u2063The lasting \u200cimpact of the leak on \u2064the\u2063 institution remains uncertain. Retired Justice Breyer voiced regret over the Roe v. Wade decision leak, highlighting the need for \u200ccomposure in \u2062challenging times.\u2062 The incident sparked Court concerns and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-biden-administration-is-dragging-its-feet-on-transgender-focused-title-ix-overhaul-heres-why\/\" title=\"The Biden Administration Is Dragging Its Feet on Transgender-Focused Title IX Overhaul. Here\u2019s Why.\">delayed case resolutions<\/a>. The long-term \u200deffects on\u2062 the institution are still unclear.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Retired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Supreme Court<\/a> Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/stephen-breyer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Stephen Breyer<\/a> recently lamented the \u201cunfortunate\u201d leak of the decision overturning <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/roe-v-wade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Roe v. Wade<\/a>, <\/em>an incident that two years ago today threatened the very core of the institution he once represented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou try to avoid getting angry or that \u2014 you try in the job \u2014 you try to remain as calm, reasonable, and serious as possible. I think it was unfortunate,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/supreme-court\/former-justice-stephen-breyer-reflects-unfortunate-supreme-court-leak-rcna144512\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"he said\">he said<\/a> of the leak of the draft decision in the <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/em> case.<\/p>\n<p>Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/clarence-thomas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Clarence Thomas<\/a> called the leak a type of \u201cinfidelity\u201d that \u201cchanges the institution fundamentally.\u201d Chief Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-roberts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Roberts<\/a> directed the court\u2019s marshal to launch an investigation into the leak, which months later ultimately turned up inconclusive.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>An anti-scaling fence surrounds the Supreme Court, Thursday, May 5, 2022 in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even two years later, there are signs that the high court may still be reeling from the unprecedented leak decision, according to legal experts and court watchers interviewed by the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe court\u2019s been incredibly slow at deciding cases, it\u2019s been slow at taking new cases, I mean it\u2019s just been slow across the board,\u201d Jonathan Adler, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abbott-signs-heartbeat-bill-allowing-texans-to-sue-abortion-providers\/\" title=\"Abbott Signs \u2018Heartbeat\u2019 Bill Allowing Texans To Sue Abortion Providers\">constitutional law professor<\/a> at Case Western Reserve University, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s starting to look like a new normal, but I certainly hope it\u2019s not the case. I\u2019m someone who thinks the court should be taking more cases than it does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Experts who spoke to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> stressed that it is difficult to gauge whether the leak is still negatively affecting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/will-democrats-try-to-pack-the-supreme-court-if-roe-v-wade-is-overturned\/\" title=\"Will Democrats Try to Pack the Supreme Court if Roe v. Wade Is Overturned?\">high court today<\/a>. After all, the Supreme Court has gone through other recent changes, such as altering its protocols during the 2020 pandemic \u2014 it now allows oral argument audio to be streamed for each case, for example \u2014 and in recent months, the high court has taken on more thorny political issues including lawsuits against the Biden administration\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, President Joe Biden\u2019s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, and cases involving former President Donald Trump, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know that we have the information that allows us to isolate one variable as opposed to the others,\u201d Adler said.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the high court has only agreed to hear eight cases for the fall 2024-25 term, though they will likely accept 60 to 70 total before their list for the next term is full. This time last year, the justices had only confirmed eight cases to be weighed in the current term as well. Additionally, the court last year had only released five opinions by April 28, while the court this year has already decided 18 cases by the same date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne symptom of the Dobbs leak last term was the slow pace early on in the term,\u201d Adam Feldman, the founder of the <em>Empirical SCOTUS<\/em> blog, which follows statistics about high court cases, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Last term, it took the justices until Jan. 23, 2023, four months after justices returned to the bench in October 2022, to issue their first opinion. Typically, the justices deliver their first opinion of the term by late November or sometime in December, but the wait to release their first decision until the end of January prompted questions among court watchers and opinion trackers. Such a delay had not been observed in nearly 100 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis slow start has continued this term, which might be related, but I think much has to do with the unexpected Trump cases taking up time that would otherwise be devoted to other cases,\u201d Feldman said, referencing the current cases surrounding Trump and his broad claims of presidential immunity from prosecution, as well as the high court\u2019s opinion earlier this term reversing the Colorado Supreme Court\u2019s decision to rule him ineligible for office.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>FILE \u2013 Anti-Abortion demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court during a rally, March 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The leak of the opinion via a <em>Politico <\/em>report sparked a long and tumultuous series of protests between May 2, 2022, and the end of June that year, when the draft 6-3 opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, a staunch conservative on the bench, reversed nearly 50 years of abortion access precedent under Roe v. Wade. Alito\u2019s words were unchanged from the leaked draft when the finalized opinion was released nearly two months later, on June 24.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly two months before that, the Supreme Court on May 5 had erected metal barricades around the building in response to continued protests and threats against Republican-appointed members of the court.<\/p>\n<p>The leak created shockwaves across the nation by signaling the high court would hand the power to impose abortion laws to individual states, and more than a dozen states immediately enacted restrictions or bans on the procedure following that decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think the biggest impact that is absolutely ongoing that we have seen is the level of personal threat to justices,\u201d Carrie Severino, a former clerk to Thomas and founder of the conservative JCN, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. Likewise, there have been more than 400 attacks against Catholic churches in the United States since May 2020, with numbers skyrocketing after the leaked decision in <em>Dobbs<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The nearly two months between the leak and the final decision gave protesters and agitators ample time to react in ways that put the justices\u2019 lives in danger. Weeks before the final decision came out, a then-26-year-old man from California traveled to the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh on June 8, 2022, with plans to break in and kill him before he called the police on himself. That man, Nicholas Roske, is currently negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors, according to court records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe defense\u2019s mitigation investigation is complete; and the parties have engaged in substantive plea negotiations,\u201d Roske\u2019s public defender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/63392380\/49\/united-states-v-roske\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"wrote\">wrote<\/a> in a status report on April 29, which notes a trial is expected to take place from May 13 to June 7.<\/p>\n<p>The murder attempt by Roske prompted the U.S. Marshals Service to send out officers to defend the private homes of several Republican-appointed justices. It wasn\u2019t until an annual dinner at the American Law Institute last May that Roberts admitted the \u201chardest decision in 18 years\u201d was the decision to place the metal barricades around the court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had no choice but to go ahead and do it,\u201d Roberts said at a dinner last May hosted by the American Law Institute.<\/p>\n<p>But in hindsight, Severino suggested it may have been better overall if the Supreme Court had released the <em>Dobbs <\/em>decision early rather than wait until the end of the term to release the final ruling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think they wanted to show that they weren\u2019t being affected by it,\u201d Severino said of the leak, adding, \u201cOf course, it can\u2019t really be business as usual\u201d when something like that occurs.<\/p>\n<p>Another concern among the commentariat at the time of the leak was whether it would affect the collegiality among the justices, especially after murmurs and rumors that the source of the leak could have been a justice, an unproven claim that Breyer recently said would leave him \u201camazed\u201d if it was true.<\/p>\n<p>Feldman said he currently sees the \u201cjustices posturing to seem like they get along,\u201d pointing to Democratic-appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s recent speaking engagements with one another in February this year.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett, left, and Sonia Sotomayor arrive for a panel discussion at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure the seeds of distrust exist between some of the different chambers, but I think the bottom line is that there isn\u2019t a lot of evidence on the surface that shows things have changed in a negative direction since the <em>Dobbs<\/em> leak,\u201d Feldman said, adding, \u201cwe probably will not have anything that paints a substantially different picture until years later when a justice either releases post-mortem\u00a0papers to the public or writes a tell-all book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last January, Justice Brett Kavanaugh spoke out about the media\u2019s speculation that the leak had caused any holdups of the Supreme Court\u2019s work, saying it was merely a coincidence that the justices took longer than normal to release their first opinions. He and his colleagues have often raised the point that they eat lunch together and how the court\u2019s relationship and closeness are similar in nature to a family.<\/p>\n<p>Jessie Hill, a constitutional law professor at Case Western Reserve, noted that the intensity of the initial reaction to the <em>Dobbs <\/em>leak led some people to believe it may \u201chave a lasting impact on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it had less than it was expected to,\u201d Hill said, noting, \u201cOn the other hand, I think the Dobbs decision itself has had more of an impact on our politics, maybe more than people foresaw at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What remains to be seen is whether the public will have a similar outcry once the justices issue decisions in two separate abortion-related cases this term or in forthcoming consequential decisions in cases involving the former president. A Marquette Law School poll from February found overall approval of the high court floating at around 40%, while 60% of respondents disapproved. That\u2019s still slightly up in comparison to July 2022, which saw approval tank down to 38% in the wake of the <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision.<\/p>\n<p>One recently argued abortion case involves the potential of limiting access to the common abortion drug, mifepristone, while another surrounds a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortion care in states with strict bans on such procedures. Both decisions are expected by the end of June.<\/p>\n<p>The immediate aftermath of the leak prompted a flurry of outrage from all sides of the political spectrum, from the left-leaning commentariat who were upset over the sweeping shift of precedent in the <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision itself to the right-leaning observers who decried the leak as a form of infidelity and institutional sabotage.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, nobody will likely understand the motive or who was behind the leak anytime soon after an internal investigation prompted by Roberts came back inconclusive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspect maybe one day we\u2019ll find out in some memoir written 50 years from now,\u201d Hill said, adding that for all intents and purposes \u201cthis inquiry itself is done.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>FILE \u2013 Associate Justice Samuel Alito joins other members of the Supreme Court as they pose for a new group portrait, Oct. 7, 2022, at the Supreme Court building in Washington. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Alito, the author of <em>Dobbs<\/em>, is the only current member of the court who has suggested he has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/04\/28\/politics\/alito-supreme-court-leak-abortion\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\" pretty good idea>\u201cpretty good idea\u201d<\/a> as to who was behind the leak and what may have motivated the breach of the institution. However, the justice has indicated as recently as this spring that it would not be fair to divulge his suspicions publicly without proper evidence. He has, however, poured cold water on the theory that a conservative leaked the decision in some apparent effort to lock in the final vote of the court, arguing it \u201cmade us the targets of assassination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It\u2019s quite implausible,\u201d Alito said last April.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For Breyer, an 85-year-old Clinton appointee who retired in 2022, the leak was the end of a fleeting effort to convince his Republican-appointed colleagues to change their position from Alito\u2019s majority opinion despite the only potential holdout being Roberts. Breyer admitted during an interview with NBC News that he was eyeing a \u201ccompromise\u201d on a 15-week abortion ban.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer arrives for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. (AP Photo\/Susan Walsh)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The chief justice was the only Republican-appointed justice who did not agree with striking down <em>Roe,<\/em> but because he ultimately wouldn\u2019t have ruled against Mississippi\u2019s desire to craft its own abortion legislation, he could not bring himself to side with Breyer and the other two Democratic-appointed justices in the minority.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always think it\u2019s possible,\u201d Breyer said of the court coming to a compromise. \u201cI always think it\u2019s possible, usually up until the last minute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>contacted the Supreme Court for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, Retired Justice Breyer expressed regret over the &#8220;unfortunate&#8221; leak of the Roe v. Wade overturn decision, a pivotal incident from two years ago. This event posed a significant challenge to the integrity of the institution he once served, emphasizing the need to maintain composure and professionalism in such circumstances<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2235198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AP24016660871484-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2235197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AP24016660871484-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2235197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2235197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2235198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2235197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2235197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2235197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}