Supreme Court: Dobbs Leaker in Limbo

John McCormack has noted some of the punchiest bits of Justice Samuel Alito’s interview with James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal about the Dobbs leak, the security threats to the Court and the justices that it triggered, and the failed investigation to expose the leaker. It tells us something about where things now stand for the leaker.

Recall that the Marshal’s report found that there was not proof of the leaker’s identity satisfying a preponderance of the evidence standard (i.e., more likely than not), and that report seemed to disclaim having identified any specific suspect, but it did imply that the Court’s inquiry probably focused pretty intensively on a few likely suspects. Alito now says, “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.” He is confident what the motive was: “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.” And he’s understandably bitter at how this made him and other members of the majority “targets of assassination,” sending an armed assassin to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house and upending the lives of the other conservative justices: Alito is now “driven around in basically a tank, and I’m not really supposed to go anyplace by myself without the tank and my members of the police force.” The justices’ homes now require 24/7 protection by federal agents at taxpayer expense.

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

Featured Tags

John McCormack has noted some of the punchiest bits of Justice Samuel Alito’s interview with James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal about the Dobbs leak, the security threats to the Court and the justices that it triggered, and the failed investigation to expose the leaker. It tells us something about where things now stand for the leaker.

Recall that the Marshal’s report found that there was not proof of the leaker’s identity satisfying a preponderance of the evidence standard (i.e., more likely than not), and that report seemed to disclaim having identified any specific suspect, but it did imply that the Court’s inquiry probably focused pretty intensively on a few likely suspects. Alito now says, “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.” He is confident what the motive was: “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.” And he’s understandably bitter at how this made him and other members of the majority “targets of assassination,” sending an armed assassin to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house and upending the lives of the other conservative justices: Alito is now “driven around in basically a tank, and I’m not really supposed to go anyplace by myself without the tank and my members of the police force.” The justices’ homes now require 24/7 protection by federal agents at taxpayer expense.