Samuel Alito Says He Has A ‘Pretty Good Idea’ Who Leaked The Dobbs Opinion
Katelynn Richardson on April 28, 2023
Justice Samuel Alito has a “pretty good idea” who leaked the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health organization draft, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Alito revealed in an interview with the WSJ that he believes he knows who is responsible for the Dobbs decision leak that sparked months of protests outside conservative justices’ homes and an attempt to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, though he said that is “different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.” The motive, he said, was to prevent the draft from becoming the decision: “And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside—as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.”
As to left-wing accusations that the leaker was a conservative trying to lock in a favorable majority, Alito told the WSJ the argument is “infuriating.”
“Look, this made us targets of assassination,” he said. “Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It’s quite implausible.”
“It was rational for people to believe that they might be able to stop the decision in Dobbs by killing one of us,” Alito told the WSJ.
Nevertheless, Alito said the marshal tasked with investigating the leak “did a good job with the resources that were available to her” and said he does not feel physically unsafe “because we now have a lot of protection.”
After interviewing nearly 100 employees, the marshall of the Supreme Court said in her January findings that investigators had been “unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion.”
Alito also addressed increased attacks on the Court’s legitimacy, though he would not speak directly to accusations that Clarence Thomas violated ethics rules.
“We are being hammered daily, and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances,” he said. “And nobody, practically nobody, is defending us.”
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