first on fox: The House Judiciary Committee is expected to investigate a leaked Supreme Court decision that suggested overturning Roe v. Wade after a formal High Court inquiry failed to identify the culprit.
Committee chair Jim Jordan, Republican Ohio, said last year when he was serving as the committee’s minority leader that Republicans would investigate leaks of the draft opinion.
Supreme Court investigation failed to identify leaker of Dobbs draft decision
Now that the Supreme Court itself is vacant, sources close to the committee said a Republican-led panel will look into the matter.
Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan plans to investigate how the Supreme Court’s draft opinion was leaked. Photographer: Ting Sheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(Ting Sheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On May 2, 2022, Politico published a draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. A major abortion case that finally overturns the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion at the federal level.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Supreme Court awaiting Dobbs’ verdict.
(Joshua Cummins/Fox News)
The unprecedented leak has sparked months of protests across the country and at the homes of Supreme Court justices.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts called the leak a “grave breach of trust.” The day after the leak, Roberts asked the court marshal to investigate the situation and find the source that leaked the documents.
Investigators conducted more than 120 interviews with about 100 employees, all of whom declined to disclose their opinions, the court said.
Sources told Fox News over the summer that the initial focus was on about 30 legal officers who work directly with the judges.
Flashback: Draft Abortion Decision Leaker’s Identity Remains A Mystery Even After Supreme Court Term Ends
The Marshal reported that the investigative team was “unable to identify those responsible due to the preponderance of evidence.”
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is seen before President Biden delivers his State of the Union Address during the Joint Congress on March 1, 2022 at the Capitol in Washington.
(Julia Nikinson Poole/Getty Images)
“The investigation determined that the court’s information technology (IT) systems were unlikely to have been compromised by persons outside the court,” the report said. “After examining the courtroom’s computer equipment, networks, printers, and available call and text logs, investigators found no forensic evidence disclosing the draft opinion.”
The report notes that the coronavirus pandemic has made checks and balances inside courts more fragile as more people work from home.
“The pandemic and accompanying expansion of work-from-home capabilities, as well as gaps in court security policies, have created an environment in which sensitive information can be easily removed from buildings and court IT networks, increasing the risk of both. Intentional and accidental disclosure of confidential information,” the report states.
Activists who support the choice hold signs that read, “What other rights will they take away?”
(Fox News Digital)
Investigators “continue to review and process some of the electronic data collected, and several other investigations remain unresolved,” the report said.
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Former DHS Commissioner and former federal appeals judge Michael Chertoff, who Roberts has hired as a consultant on the court’s internal investigative methods, said, “Court investigators will continue to pursue leads as more information becomes available. “In the meantime, courts have already taken steps to increase security and strengthen controls over the handling of classified documents.
“Most importantly, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has directed a comprehensive review of the court’s information and document security protocols to reduce the risk of future cases.”
Fox News’ Shannon Bream, Bill Mears, Bradford Betz, and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
