Supreme Court Begins New Term But Still Hasn’t Even Identified Dobbs Leaker

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 3, 2022   |   9:45AM   |   Washington, DC

The Supreme Court is beginning its new term, dealing with new contentious issues and even welcoming a new liberal justice to its membership.

Monday’s session also is the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will participate after Democrats confirmed her to the nation’s highest court. And for the first time the public is welcome to sit in on Supreme Court oral arguments since the COVID pandemic in 2020.

But one thing hasn’t changed. Months have passed since someone leaked the draft of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and Americans still have no idea who was behind the first leak of a Supreme Court decision in the history of the chamber.

Chief Justice John Roberts ordered an investigation, but the Supreme Court has yet to provide an update.

When the draft of the Dobbs decision was made public and reported on by the news outlet Politico, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement confirming the leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision overturning Roe was genuine and he said the nation’s highest court would launch an internal investigation about the leak.

Yet months have passed with absolutely no information.

Conservative legal analyst Carrie Severino applauded the high court for overturning Roe even in the face of unprecedented liberal violence.

As the Supreme Court begins its new term, it does so against the backdrop of overturning Roe v. Wade and correcting one of the greatest acts of judicial arrogance in history. After the unprecedented leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which led to throngs of left-wing protestors illegally descending upon justices’ homes — and even an assassination attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh — it took tremendous courage for the five justices in the majority to follow the law in the face of an all-out intimidation campaign.

And nearly five months after the Dobbs leak, the intimidation campaign continues at full speed. The barrage of liberal attacks nefariously questioning the institutional legitimacy of the court to advance a court-packing pipe dream is non-stop. As are the streams of left-wing protestors who continue to harass the justices at their homes, showing no signs of relenting. And why would they, when Attorney General Merrick Garland has shown zero appetite for enforcing federal law?

Despite the intensity of the left’s campaign to delegitimize and undermine the court, expect the justices to do more of what we saw last term: keep their heads down and look to the original meaning of the Constitution and the text of statutes to follow the law where it leads.

Last month, Justice Neil Gorsuch, who sided with the Supreme Court’s majority in Dobbs to overturn Roe v. Wade said he believes the report will finally be released soon.

Gorsuch spoke before a group of lawyers and judges Thursday in Colorado Springs at the 10th Circuit Judicial Conference in comments that were his first public statements following the ruling.

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“The chief justice appointed an internal committee to oversee the investigation,” Gorsuch said. “That committee has been busy, and we’re looking forward to their report, I hope, soon.”

Fox News confirmed the comments first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

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Multiple sources previously told Fox News that the investigation into the approximately 70 individuals in the court who may have had access to the draft opinion has been narrowed. Sources say much of the initial focus was on the three dozen or so law clerks, who work directly with the justices on their caseload.

As LifeNews reported, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with a 6-3 majority ruling in the Dobbs case that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” — allowing states to ban abortions and protect unborn babies. The high court also ruled 6-3 uphold the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban so states can further limit abortions and to get rid of the false viability standard.

Chief Justice John Roberts technically voted for the judgment but, in his concurring opinion, disagreed with the reasoning and said he wanted to keep abortions legal but with a new standard.

Texas and Oklahoma had banned abortions before Roe was overturned and Missouri became the first state after Roe to protect babies from abortions and South Dakota became the 2nd. Then Arkansas became the third state protecting babies from abortions and Kentucky became the 4th and Louisiana became the 5th and Ohio became the 6th and Utah became the 7th and Oklahoma became the 8th and Alabama became the 9th. This week, Mississippi became the 10th and South Carolina became the 11th,Texas became the 12th with its pre-Roe law and Tennessee became the 13th.

Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia have old pro-life laws on the books but there is question about whether they are applicable and will be enforced.

Ultimately, as many as 26 states could immediately or quickly ban abortions and protect babies from certain death for the first time in nearly 50 years.

The 13 total states with trigger laws that would effectively ban all or most abortions are: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

“Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” Alito wrote. “And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer authored a joint dissent condemning the decision as enabling states to enact “draconian” restrictions on women.

Polls show Americans are pro-life on abortion and a new national poll shows 75% of Americans essentially agree with the Supreme Court overturning Roe.

Despite false reports that abortion bans would prevent doctors from treating pregnant women for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, pro-life doctors confirm that is not the case. Some 35 states have laws making it clear that miscarriage is not abortion and every state with an abortion ban allows treatment for both.