Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says he thinks he knows who leaked a draft opinion in a major abortion case.
“Investigators have been unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion,” she wrote.
Curley spoke with each justice and followed up on leads, none of which implicated justices or their spouses. The marshal said that was why she didn’t require justices to sign sworn affidavits attesting they weren’t behind the leak.
The Supreme Court said the investigation would continue and has not issued any update since.
Alito said that Curley “did a good job with the resources that were available to her.”
He also said that there is not enough evidence to publicly name a suspect.
While he believes he knows the responsible party, “that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody,” Alito said.
He is, however, sure of what motivated the disclosure.
“It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft ... from becoming the decision of the court,“ Alito said. ”And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside—as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.”
The disclosure of the draft triggered widespread protests, including at the homes of Alito and other justices believed to be supportive of his position.
Alito said it was “rational” for people to think they might be able to alter the final outcome of the case if they killed one of the justices. Six of the justices on the nine-justice court were appointed by Republicans, with several regularly siding with the Democrat appointees in high-profile cases. The Dobbs ruling was a 6–3 decision.
