A dozen Republican lawmakers introduced a bill Tuesday to make leaking a draft Supreme Court opinion a federal crime.
The Leaker Accountability Act would make anyone leaking the documents subject to a fine or up to five years in prison.
House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Rep. Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said the leak to the press in early May of the draft Supreme Court opinion suggesting the justices were poised to overturn abortion rights constituted a “grave breach of judicial ethics.”
“This legislation is now, unfortunately, a necessary step to discourage future such attempts to intimidate justices during their deliberative process and restore independence to the court so that it can ensure the American people are afforded equal and impartial justice under the law. The institution of the court has been damaged and we must do what we can to try to repair it,” he said.
He’s joined by 11 other Republicans in pushing for the legislation, though it was unclear if the majority Democrats in the House would take it up.
The law would target anyone who knowingly releases notes, opinions or conversations as well as any personal information of the justices.
Since the draft opinion was made public through Politico on May 2, legal scholars have debated whether the leak would constitute a crime.
Some have said it could be theft of government property or obstruction of justice in trying to change the outcome of the ruling. Others, meanwhile, have said Supreme Court documents aren’t protected by confidentiality laws the way they are in other areas of government.
Former clerks have told The Washington Times the only way to rebuild collegiality and trust at the high court is to identify who leaked the document to the press.
Court watchers were aghast when news broke roughly 29 days ago that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn the decades-old precedent on abortion. It was the first time a full draft opinion — which may not be the court‘s final say on the case before it — had been leaked in the Supreme Court’s 233-year history.
In the draft opinion published by Politico, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said abortion should return to the state legislatures.
“The Constitution makes no reference to abortion,” he wrote. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“It’s time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” reads the opinion, which was dated in February.
An official ruling in the case is expected by the end of June.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the draft opinion was authentic but cautioned that it did not necessarily represent a final ruling.
He ordered the court‘s marshal to investigate who leaked the document.
Pro-choice protesters have been outraged by the leaked opinion and have been protesting outside the homes of conservative justices in recent weeks.
The legal dispute at issue weighs a Mississippi ban on abortion at 15 weeks of gestation in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Mississippi officials argue that Roe should be overturned because it’s outdated and states should be allowed to set their own policies regarding abortion.
Reporting from The Washington Times.
