UPDATE (FROM GLENN): A friend comments: “Whatever position you may have on the issue, leaking a draft SCOTUS opinion to try to change the outcome of a case is a new level of brinksmanship that speaks to the hyperpoliticization of law schools and an accompanying valorization of ‘activism’ in higher ed.”
Assuming this was leaked by a clerk, the leaker should never work in law again. It’s a betrayal of the highest order. But, of course, professionalism has proven to be weak sauce indeed when it comes to restraining activism.
More thoughts from Josh Blackman. “The Court should issue the Dobbs opinion as soon as possible. Do it tomorrow. Don’t wait till Thursday, or next Monday, or the end of June. The longer this process drags on, the worse the Court will be . . . if any members of the majority changed their vote in response to the leak, that change will be seen as a direct response to this leak.”
Here’s more, including the draft opinion, at the Washington Examiner.
When the backlash hits, I predict that Politico will become sudden First Amendment absolutists.
From the comments: “That can’t be right. I was told the Responsible Gatekeeper Media did not report on or print information that was leaked or hacked.”
Of course, to be fair, though everyone seems to assume the leak came from someone on the left, we don’t know for sure.
Plus: Supreme Court Barricaded After Bombshell Abortion Leak, Leftists Start to Call for Rash Action.
Prediction: The people who accused Trump of “incitement” will have differing standards here.
Plus, from a friend:
Biden could immediately order additional protection for all Supreme Court justices
Garland could immediately order a criminal investigation into the leak
Roberts could order the immediate release of the actual Dobbs opinion
Each of these acts would have the effect of insulating the Court from the intended, potentially violent, political pressure. We’ll see if any of them does any of these things.
We will.