Elena Kagan Says ‘All 9 Justices’ Take Leaks at the Supreme Court ‘Extremely Seriously,’ Warns They Damage the Court

There have been “additional leaks” at the Supreme Court since the unprecedented 2022 incident in which the court’s historic decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the press years before it became public, Justice Elena Kagan said.

The court was ultimately unable to determine who gave the draft opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned federal abortion protections, to Politico.

On Tuesday, Kagan and fellow justice Amy Coney Barrett made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill to testify as to the need for additional security funds for the court.

While Coney Barrett described in an emotional anecdote how physical security concerns had impacted her family, both justices addressed cybersecurity concerns.

“The cybersecurity attacks have been up, you know, by magnitudes year after year,” Coney Barrett told Rep. Mike Cloud (R-TX). “AI is, and the rapid advancement of AI, is making that more and more possible.

“We haven’t suffered the kind of paralyzing attacks that some of the lower courts have. But in seeing that, that has caused us to try to ramp up very quickly our cybersecurity protection. And so some of the funding that we’re seeking is for additional cyber security experts who can come in,” she said.

Kagan concurred, noting:

And there have been additional leaks over time, too, and this is something that all nine justices take extremely seriously because we can’t do our business, we can’t engage in confidential communications — which is the best way to operate, is to be fully open with one’s colleagues about one’s views.

And if you think that those views are going to appear on the front page of a newspaper, you pull back, you don’t, you don’t have the kinds of conversations that I think the court really depends on to do great work. And so, you know, this is something that is, has frustrated all of us and that we’re continuing to make efforts to resolve.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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