Washington:
US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said on Tuesday that a draft advisory on abortion leaked to the press in a “serious breach” of trust was authentic, but not the final decision on the matter.
Roberts also said in a statement that he had instructed the court marshal to launch an investigation into the source of the leak, which is seen as an extraordinary violation of institutional protocol.
News channel Politico released a draft opinion late Monday that suggested the conservative-dominated Supreme Court was on the brink of destroying nearly 50 years of constitutional protection by scrapping the nationwide right to abortion in the United States.
While the ramifications of such a ruling have reverberated, the way the draft, written by Judge Samuel Alito, has come out in public has drawn strong criticism.
Several Republican lawmakers accused liberals of orchestrating the leak to stir unrest and influence judges’ opinions, and demanded a comprehensive investigation by President Joe Biden’s administration.
“To the extent that this betrayal of the Court’s trust was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will fail,” Roberts said.
“Court officials have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of judicial proceedings and upholding the confidence of the Court,” the chief justice added.
“This was a special and flagrant breach of that trust which is an affront to the Court and the community of officials who work here.”
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