Jeffrey Toobin Calls Supreme Court Opinion Leak ‘Shattering,’ Doubts If the ‘Institution Is Going to Recover’
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called the leak of a purported decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. v. Wade “shattering,” and wondered if the institution would ever recover from it.
POLITICO shared what it reported was a leaked draft order authored by Justice Samuel Alito Monday evening. The letter, if accurate, demonstrates the court is set to overturn the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Alito, per POLITICO, wrote,
Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division
In the reported draft order, Alito also stated, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
According to the report, Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined Alito in a 5-4 decision to overturn the law.
Chief Justice John Roberts reportedly joined the court’s liberal wing, which dissented.
On CNN, Toobin could not downplay the significance of the leak.
“I can’t emphasize enough, as someone who has covered this court for 30 years, who’s written two books on the court – there has never been a leak anything like this,” he told network host Anderson Cooper. “There’s never been a leak of a vote, much less an actual opinion, much less in a case of this significance.”
Toobin questioned what the leak, without mentioning the apparent decision, “means for the institution of the Supreme Court.”
“You know, what it means for the respect that the justices and the court’s decisions are held,” he concluded. “The idea that a decision of this magnitude could leak is really a shattering experience for the justices and the court. And I really don’t know how or if the institution is going to recover.”
Watch above, via CNN.
