An Open Letter to the Supreme Court Leaker

Dear Mr. (or Ms.) Leaker:

I have to say, you really know how to take command of a news cycle. There we were, steeped in a dozen stories about various crises from the economy to borders to the radicalization of our schools, and then, boom! Now all we talk about is you.

Not you alone, but this historic stunt you have pulled off, and the ripples it has sent through the nation, energizing pro-lifers who sense their desired moment is at hand, and enraging abortion-rights activists who have shrieked as if the Earth were spinning out of its orbit.

Since we don’t know who you are, we don’t fully know whether or not you are a denizen of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing. That’s the most popular theory, since it seems the release of this Samuel Alito draft opinion would be designed to create a firestorm that might intimidate constitutionalist justices into collapsing on core principles. Until proof to the contrary surfaces, I’ll go with that.

You are surely enjoying the collateral effect of your mischief—the sidelining, for the moment, of a long list of Biden administration nightmares. But when the hubbub wanes, there will once again be room for coverage of crushing inflation, unchecked illegal immigration and the ongoing war on American energy.

And in fact, there is a growing likelihood that your entire caper is in the process of backfiring.

Chief Justice John Roberts, in announcing the investigation tasked with catching you, made clear that “the work of the Court will not be affected in any way.” If he is right about this, at least five justices will indeed vote to return the issue of abortion to the states, as the Tenth Amendment requires.

You may have noticed that you have some Republican allies. Senator Susan Collins of Maine seems mightily perturbed that the two Trump justices she voted for, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, will not fall in with the liberal wing to keep the federal abortion right fiction alive. They told her Roe v. Wade deserved proper examination as precedent. They have apparently engaged in that scrutiny, finding it sorely wanting.

So here we are. Roe is flatlining, and the expected apoplexy is breaking out across the leftist landscape. This actually grants conservatives and constitutionalists an unexpected gift. We were always going to have to deploy truth squads to respond to the deceptions that would accompany constitutional clarity after nearly 50 years. But now we get an extra head start.

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An Open Letter to the Supreme Court Leaker

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