BREAKING: The GOP Has Demanded An Investigation Into The SCOTUS Leak, Calling It A “Dangerous” Attack On The Rule Of Law

Republicans are pushing for a complete criminal probe into the unprecedented leak of a Supreme Court draft judgment, which they see as a serious attack on the rule of law. “Last night’s stunning breach was an attack on the Supreme Court’s independence,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement released early Tuesday, hours after Politico published the first draft of an opinion indicating the court was poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision.

“By all accounts, this was just the latest escalation in the extreme left’s continuing drive to harass and intimidate federal judges and replace the rule of law with mob rule,” he stated.

Rather of expressing concern over the leak, McConnell chastised President Biden and other Democratic leaders for making “disgraceful words” that added to the “toxic spectacle” of the controversial topic of abortion. He maintained, “Real leaders should support the Court’s independence absolutely.”

McConnell also requested the Justice Department to pursue “criminal charges if applicable” for the leaker in a Mississippi abortion case heard by the Supreme Court in December, whom Politico only characterized as “a person acquainted with the court’s operations.”

“This unlawful activity should be thoroughly examined and punished,” he said. On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that “we live in a clown show state” until there is a “thorough criminal inquiry into who released confidential records from the United States Supreme Court.”

Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) joined demands for criminal prosecution in a statement expressing his support for the Supreme Court’s imminent judgment. “The court’s deliberate process breach… is an abhorrent disrespect to a key institution that should be thoroughly probed and those involved penalized,” Romney wrote.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) went even farther, sharing a Vox reporter’s “honorable mention” of the leaker as a “hero… ‘F–k it!’ said who? ‘Let’s set fire to this place.’ “I’m curious if the Jan. 6th panel would now investigate into these leftist insurgency calls.” Rubio enquired.

“Remember how the extreme left leaked a Supreme Court opinion in an attempt to frighten the justices on abortion the next time you hear them talking about how they are fighting to protect our Republic’s institutions and standards,” the senior Republican tweeted. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said the leak was “clearly an attempt by the left to try and alter the outcome in this case and corrupt the process,” according to Fox News.

The indignation was not limited to politicians; legal professionals condemned the hazardous precedent as well. Jonathan Turley, a well-known legal scholar, described it as “nothing short of astonishing.” “It would be one of the most serious security breaches in the Court’s history,” he added. “It’s difficult not to see this as a malevolent conduct if this is a real copy of the draft opinion.” What is the rationale for making such a decision public? The sole purpose of such a disclosure is to elicit a response from outside the Court,” he said on Twitter.

“Of course, the most likely purpose is to put pressure on the Supreme Court and force Congress to pass legislation on a nationwide abortion ban before the November elections.” He also predicted that the clamor for court cramming will be renewed. Turley told Fox News that it is the “greatest crisis that Chief Justice John Roberts has faced in his tenure on the Court,” and that the court leader will be driven to find out who is responsible.

“God have pity on that soul,” Turley remarked, “for the court will have none.” It’s “hard to overestimate the earthquake this will produce inside the court, in terms of the erosion of confidence among the judges and employees,” according to the widely read SCOTUS blog.

“This is the Supreme Court equivalent of the Pentagon Papers leak,” Neal Katyal, a former acting US attorney general, said, alluding to the secret Vietnam War documents disclosed in 1971. It was a “huge breach of accepted standards,” according to Dan Epps, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

“It just doesn’t happen,” he added, adding that the perpetrator is most likely “someone unhappy” with the court’s actions. The leaker, according to Ilya Shapiro, a lecturer at Georgetown University Law Center, is “someone on the left engaging in civil disobedience,” and the leak is “inexcusable and affects the court’s functioning.”

In February, Justice Samuel Alito penned a piece. It was labeled as a first draft, and Politico admitted that it had no idea if it had been modified since then – or if it would stand in the end. In it, Alito made it apparent that the justices were fully aware of the potential reaction, but insisted that it would have no bearing on their choices.

“We must allow any external forces, such as anxiety about the public’s reaction to our work, to influence our judgments,” he wrote. “We make no claims to understanding how our political system or society will react to today’s judgment overturning Roe v. Wade.” Even if we knew what would happen ahead of time, we wouldn’t have the power to allow that information to affect our decision.”