The US Supreme Court said it had failed to identify the culprit after an eight-month investigation into last year’s unprecedented leak of its opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion.
(Bloomberg) — The US Supreme Court said it had failed to identify the culprit after an eight-month investigation into last year’s unprecedented leak of its opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion.
“The team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence,” the court said in a statement.
In a 20-page report, Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley said investigators were still pursuing a few lines of inquiry, but she offered little reason to think those queries might prove fruitful. Curley, the court’s top security officer, said investigators conducted 126 formal interviews of 97 employees, all of whom denied disclosing the opinion.
“The investigation has determined that it is unlikely that the court’s information technology (IT) systems were improperly accessed by a person outside the court,” Curley wrote. “After examining the court’s computer devices, networks, printers, and available call and text logs, investigators have found no forensic evidence indicating who disclosed the draft opinion.”
The failure to find the culprit is a new blow to a court whose public approval ratings have slid in recent years amid ethical questions, controversial opinions and a politicized appointment and confirmation process.
The court called the leak “a grave assault on the judicial process.”
Chertoff Consultation
The court said it consulted Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of homeland security and former federal appeals court judge, to assess the investigation. Chertoff concluded the investigation was a thorough one and couldn’t recommend any additional steps.
The June 24 ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Politico published the draft opinion on May 2 and said it had at least the tentative support of five justices.
The final opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, was virtually identical to the draft except for new sections that responded to the dissenting and concurring opinions. Five conservative justices voted to overturn Roe while a sixth, Chief Justice John Roberts, said he would have upheld a 15-week Mississippi ban while leaving at least some right to get an abortion.
The day after the Politico story appeared, Roberts asked Curley to investigate the leak. The court hadn’t provided any updates since then.
The court said 82 employees had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft opinions. The group includes about three dozen law clerks who worked at the court at the court at the time and have since finished their one-year stints.
(Updates with excerpt from marshal’s report in fourth paragraph.)
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