Justice Alito had a rather explosive interview with the Wall Street Journal recently.
Quite honestly, I am shocked it did not get more coverage.
Alito says that he has an idea of who the leaker was in the Dobbs decision, and it is not going to sit well some of his fellow justices.
I Know
On the leak, Alito stated, “I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.”
Alito added, “It was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft…from becoming the decision of the court.
“And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside—as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.”
He is confident the leak came from one of the liberal justices teams, mostly due to the fact whoever leaked the draft had to know the conservatives justices and their staffs were going to come under considerable heat.
He also stated that the leak created some issues of trust on the court, and who can blame them for that?
If he truly believes he knows where the leak came from, how can he possibly look that justice in the face and not want to go off?
Alito stated that the leak “created an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust.
“We worked through it, and last year we got our work done.
“This year, I think, we’re trying to get back to normal operations as much as we can. . . . But it was damaging.”
He further stated, “Those of us who were thought to be in the majority, thought to have approved my draft opinion, were really targets of assassination.
“It was rational for people to believe that they might be able to stop the decision in Dobbs by killing one of us.”
Think about that… this was akin to putting out an organized hit on these justices. And it almost happened with Justice Kavanaugh.
Alito had one more thought, stating, “This type of concerted attack on the court and on individual justices [is] new during my lifetime…We are being hammered daily, and I think quite unfairly in a lot of instances.
“And nobody, practically nobody, is defending us.
“The idea has always been that judges are not supposed to respond to criticisms, but if the courts are being unfairly attacked, the organized bar will come to their defense.”
