As the search for the individual who leaked the draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade intensifies, Supreme Court law clerks are being requested to turn over their personal mobile phone records and sign affidavits.
Sources familiar with the attempts told CNN that the language of the affidavits and the scope of the cell phone search are still unclear – but the prospect of handing over their personal devices has clerks considering their options, including hiring outside counsel.
Given the crackdown on law clerks, it’s likely that the court hasn’t been able to pinpoint the source of the breach.
While the move asking for personal phone records is unprecedented in the Supreme Court, so is a leak of a draft opinion that led to the investigation in the first place.
On May 2, Politico published a scoop with what appeared to be a photocopy of a draft opinion from conservative Justice Samuel Alito that showed the overturn of Roe v. Wade, which would end federal protections for a woman’s right to get an abortion and kick the issue back to the states.
Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion and immediately launched an investigation into who leaked the document.
He appointed Supreme Court Marshal Gail A. Curley to lead the investigation to track down the leaker.
The leak launched the country into a frenzy earlier in May with pro-choice activists showing up at conservative Supreme Court Justies’ homes in protest and pro-life activists praising the move. Democrats are demanding action in Congress to codify federal abortion rights, while Republicans are furious over the leak and demanding the person who shared the document from the court be brought to justice.
According to CNN, Justice Roberts met with law clerks as a group following the breach. It is still unclear, however, whether individual interviews have been conducted.
Supreme Court Marshal Gail A. Curley (pictured), on the behest of Chief Justice John Roberts, is leading the investigation into finding who leaked the draft opinion
Supreme Court Justices typically hire four clerks, which are young lawyers selected each year and are usually considered the most elite, consisting almost entirely of Ivy League law school graduates.
A one-year clerkship at the highest U.S. court nearly cements an indivduals’ ability to move onto a prestigious law firm or top government job. Some even go on to serve as senators.
Six of the nine current Supreme Court Justices are former clerks themselves.
The leaked opinion by Justice Alito was signed on by four of the other justices with the lone dissenting conservative justice being Chief Justice Roberts.
Alito’s opinion stems from the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which examined states restricting abortion at the 15-week point of a pregnancy. Roberts says that while e does support limiting terminating a pregnancy at that point, but doesn’t go as far as wanting to fully overturning the landmark abortion case.
Even without Roberts, however, conservatives in the 6-3 majority have the numbers to overturn the 50-year-old ruling.
The official opinion is expected to be published in late June.
The decision on Roe v. Wade in 1973 made abortion legal at the federal level, but those in the pro-life movement say the issue should have always been decided on a state-by-state basis.
Thirteen red states have so-called trigger laws, which means that if the Supreme Court strikes down the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, their legislature would immediately enact a law that would totally ban abortions.
These states include Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
The investigation into the Supreme Court leaker comes at the busiest time of the annual term as justices prepare to issue rulings on cases by the late June deadline amid increased public scrutiny.