WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) referred to as the leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe. v Wade a “beautiful breach” and an “assault” on the Supreme Courtroom.
“By each indication, this was yet one more escalation within the radical left’s ongoing marketing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of regulation,” McConnell mentioned Tuesday morning in a ready assertion.
No one has taken duty for the leak; some beltway commentators have speculated it got here from liberals against the choice, whereas others have instructed a conservative leaker may by making an attempt to forestall Republican justices from getting chilly ft concerning the opinion, which was apparently drafted in February.
McConnell mentioned nothing concerning the content material of the draft, which, if finalized, would enable states to ban abortion outright. Some 26 states are possible to take action.
Greater than anybody else in Washington, McConnell is liable for the Supreme Courtroom’s 6-3 Republican majority. He blocked President Barack Obama from appointing a justice in 2016, arguing it was too near an election, after which reversed himself so Donald Trump may put Amy Coney Barrett on the court docket in 2020.
Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) additionally blasted the leak, describing it as a “clearly coordinated marketing campaign to intimidate and hinder the Justices of america Supreme Courtroom.”
McConnell mentioned it was “disgraceful” for Democrats equivalent to President Joe Biden, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to decry the possible demise of a constitutional proper to abortion.
“Actual leaders ought to defend the Courtroom’s independence unconditionally,” McConnell mentioned. “This lawless motion ought to be investigated and punished as totally as potential. The Chief Justice should resolve it and the Division of Justice should pursue legal prices if relevant.”
Orin Kerr, a regulation professor on the College of California, Berkeley, mentioned on Twitter it’s not clear that a crime has been dedicated.
“So far as I can inform, there isn't any federal legal regulation that immediately prohibits disclosure of a draft authorized opinion,” Kerr wrote.
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