Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he has an idea of who was behind the Dobbs decision leak.
During an interview with Fox News’ Shannon Bream, Alito stated that he has a hunch about who was responsible for prematurely revealing the decision to Americans, but insisted that there is too little evidence to make a public accusation. The comment came as the pair were discussing “originalism” and how the Constitution is interpreted to handle modern issues that the Founders could never have conceived of.
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“Those are the most difficult cases,” Alito admitted. “Sometimes history and, of course started with the text of the Constitution, sometimes the text and sometimes history, provide a pretty clear answer to the specific cases that come before us. But when you’re dealing with something like a new technology, history cannot provide that kind of an answer. So in those instances, the best we can do is try to understand as clearly as we can, the legal principle that is embodied in the Constitution. And then we have to apply that to this new technology and try to apply it in the way that makes the most sense.”
” I think in some instances, as I said, it provides a clear answer. I know this is very controversial; I thought it was perfectly clear that the reference to liberty the 14th Amendment adopted in 1868 did not mean that there is a constitutional right to abortion,” he added. “In 1868, abortion was illegal in most of the states. And so it is unthinkable those states would ratify an amendment that rendered their own laws unconstitutional, and then continue to have those laws on the books for decades after that. So, although that was a controversial decision and an important one, I think there, originalism provided a clear answer.”
“Let’s stay on the issue of abortion. Clearly, the Dobbs decision sparks all kinds of backlash. First we had the leak, then the actual decision. Not too much difference between the two, but did you, as you were authoring that decision, that draft, did you have the full import, you think, or the understanding of how Dobbs would be received?” Bream asked.
“I anticipated that it would anger a great many people who believed and continue to believe strongly that there should be a constitutional right to abortion. So I understood that,” he said. “I was not surprised there was such a reaction. I did not anticipate the particulars, the forms that reaction would take; the most extreme forms. And I never dreamed the draft of the opinion would be leaked. That was totally unprecedented in the history of the country. It was a grave breach of the trust that everybody who worked in this building had before that point. It very predictably made the five of us in the majority targets for assassination. And nearly resulted in the assassination of my colleague Brett Kavanaugh.”
“You have an opinion about who you think the leaker was?” Bream prodded.
“I do have an opinion. But the evidence available at this time is not strong enough for the court, or for me, to say,” he mused.
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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