About the Infamous Leak from the Supreme Court

The leak of the draft opinion overruling Roe. vs. Wade raises many interesting issues. One is about the perceived necessity for such overwhelming secrecy over the operation of the Court. The other two branches of government operate in the open, as mandated by open meetings laws, sunshine laws, Freedom of Information laws, and the like. But the Court thinks that it is horribly wrong to have a draft opinion leak out. Why? It makes no sense. The American people deserve to know more about how the Court operates, so that we can make more informed decisions about our political future.

Another key issue is the identity of the leaker. The Republicans have focused on this, and have been reluctant to talk about the substantive issues involved, which is reminiscent of their silly posturing during the first Trump impeachment, when they whined and whined about who the whistleblower was, a totally irrelvant complaint since the whistleblower's allegations had been verified many times over by other witnesses.

The right wing asumes the leaker was from the left; when Ted Cruz was asked why he assumed this, he answered, "Because I'm not a moron!" However, the prevailing opinion now is that the leak probably came from the right. The theory goes that this draft was circulated back in February, and in the three months since then Chief Justice Roberts has been lobbying his fellow conservatives to take a more moderate course. Given Roberts' concern for the reputation of the Court, this is certainly what has been going on since the draft was first circulated. Alito's draft opinion is ridiculously inflammatory and derogatory toward the original opinion in Roe v. Wade. There is no doubt that Roberts is committed to moving the Court away from this extreme position toward a more moderate and nuanced opinion, in his ongoing efforts to salvage the integrity of the Court. In response, the extremists on the right are trying to "lock in" the five who originally suported this extreme draft, hence the leak, which some think might have come from Alito himself, who is upset that his original supporters are deserting him.

The Repubicans are clearly running scared, because in a post-Roe world, they will be on the defensive, given that 2/3 of Americans support the idea of a woman's right to choose. The fallout wil be beneficial to the Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections, in my humble opinion.

Overruling Roe will take the issue of abortion out of the legal arena, and put it back into the political arena. The GOP will be in the position of the dog finally catching the car that it has been chasing. The GOP has now caught the car, and it will only be embarrassing for them when their autocratic position becomes painfully obvious. They think the government should make our personal lifestyle decisions for us, and this autocratic approach will hopefully be rejected. If not, then we don't deserve the liberty-based republic that our Founders have so carefully crafted for us.