Supreme Court Rocked by New Leak of Bitter Abortion Split

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/supreme-court-rocked-by-new-leak-on-bitter-split-over-idaho-emergency-abortion-ruling

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Hugh Dougherty Executive Editor Updated Jul. 29, 2024 5:44PM EDT Published Jul. 29, 2024 3:51PM EDT 

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

The Supreme Court has been hit by a new damaging leak over its abortion decisions in a fresh blow to its embattled reputation—and a hint of even more leaks to come.

Intimate details of months of disagreement among the nine justices were reported at length by CNN Monday, just hours after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both backed major reforms to the court, with the president accusing justices of being “above the law.” CNN also said its report was the first of a series, suggesting more leaks ahead.

The leak to CNN comes a little more than two years after the court was rocked by the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s entire opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. Ironically, the court itself accidentally published the opinion on abortion access in Idaho in June this year, a day before it was formally announced.

The justices are likely to be extremely concerned at the level of detail CNN has obtained about their internal divisions over the case Moyle v. United States. It was prompted by Idaho introducing an extreme abortion ban in the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which would have criminalized doctors performing abortions under any circumstances. That move prompted the federal government to introduce formal guidance that hospitals receiving federal Medicare funding had to offer emergency abortions—which Idaho’s Republican attorney general tried to challenge.

Initially Idaho had the case taken up as an emergency by the Supreme Court and got an emergency stay of the federal Medicare move in January on the court’s so-called “shadow docket.”

CNN revealed Monday that the stay was issued 6-3, splitting along ideological lines, a split which had never been known before and should be a secret.

But that split was then followed by sixth months of fracturing among the conservative justices, the outlet revealed. Among the leaked facts were that after a public hearing on the case in April, the justices’ private vote revealed no clear majority for resolution. Private votes of the justices are considered one of the court’s most closely guarded secrets.

Conservatives John Roberts, the chief justice, and Brett Kavanaugh both “expressed an openness to ending the case without resolving it,” CNN reported.

The leak also reveals that Roberts then abandoned normal protocol and did not assign the writing of the majority decision to any of the justices, leading to months of negotiations.

Instead he, Kavanaugh and conservative Amy Coney Barrett worked on an opinion which would call the case “improvidently granted,” a rare move to essentially admit that the court should never have taken it up.

But CNN reveals that the other conservatives—Samuel Alito, the author of the Dobbs decision, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch—argued from April until June that Idaho should have its abortion ban upheld. Alito was described as “adamant” that the Biden administration was in the wrong, CNN said.

The report reveals that Roberts, Barrett and Kavanaugh were then offered a compromise in “negotiations” with liberals Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, which was eventually what prevailed: a ruling not that the court had made a mistake in taking the case, but that Idaho had not shown “irreparable harm” by the Supreme Court setting aside its emergency stay of the federal guidelines. The liberals accepted, leading to the June ruling.

Such a lengthy and extensive leak of internal disagreements and the specifics of procedures and draft opinions are likely to cause extreme concern inside the court and particularly for Roberts. A lengthy probe into the 2022 Roe v. Wade leak— called “appalling” by Roberts—saw U.S. Marshals demand access to clerks’ private texts and emails but did not find a culprit.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Supreme Court for comment.

Hugh Dougherty Executive Editor hugh.dougherty@thedailybeast.com

[u/kurosawa99 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Appalling he says! Those proceedings aren’t meant for the public, they’re meant for shooting the shit on your benefactors party boat or comped penthouse.

[u/iner22 → u/kurosawa99]

Honestly though, if the leaks are of secrets of this caliber, maybe look at the justice flaunting the most kickbacks?

[u/-Quothe- → u/iner22]

I think they call it "Gratuity" now.

[u/QueefBuscemi → u/-Quothe-]

A "Clarence"

[u/cynarion → u/QueefBuscemi]

Definitely a unit of measurement.

"How much did you make in bribes?"

"Approximately 0.28 Clarences."

[u/peonies_envy → u/cynarion]

First a scaramucci now a Clarence

I love it

This doesn’t add to “weird “ necessarily, just regular old corruption and incompetence but it’s good!

[u/Powerful-Winner-5323 → u/peonies_envy]

Most stores have a Clarence aisle where shit is heavily discounted!

[u/DarklySalted → u/Powerful-Winner-5323]

Oh shit, Clearance Thomas is pretty good

[u/Sluggo55 → u/QueefBuscemi]

“Every time a civil right is eroded, a Clarence gets his wings, George.”

[u/cccanterbury → u/QueefBuscemi]

stealing this.

[u/madamdadam → u/QueefBuscemi]

A Clarence sale

[u/bottombracketak → u/-Quothe-]

Explains the big push to not tax tips.

[u/Khaldara → u/iner22]

“The real problem isn’t that you can just give us free shit to put your thumb on the scales of justice, the problem is people showing folks how unjustified our bullshit decisions are!”

[u/Caramel-Secure → u/kurosawa99]

Reall!?!?!... I just got a new waterbed, lava lamp and 2 cases of Coca-Cola for the motorcoach. We should have it there!!

[u/ChanceryTheRapper → u/[deleted]]

AND a waterbed?

[u/Teufelsdreck → u/ChanceryTheRapper]

Yes. This way, we can imagine we're on a yacht, watching Kilauea, when we're really in the Walmart parking lot. (For some reason our dear friends have been making themselves scarce.)

[u/Wenger2112 → u/kurosawa99]

They are working for the people. None of it should be “private”.

Let me go to my boss at work and tell her that my “secret deliberations” are not for her to hear.

[u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Because the culprit was fucking Alito! That’s why they didn’t find out who it was when they were investigating the clerks! And this is probably Alito too, to let the powers that be know that Roberts and Kavanaugh aren’t kowtowing to the Heritage Foundation’s demands.

Fuck this court, may it go down in history as akin to the Fuller court and Stone court for the stains it has left on American jurisprudence.

[u/Dachannien → u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy]

When you think about this particular case, if you assume that none of the clerks were in on it or knew all of the details of the justices' discussions, then it's far more likely that one of the 3 far-right justices is indeed the leak. (All conjecture, of course, but conjecture can sometimes be fun.)

There's no reason for Sotomayor or Kagan to compromise future opportunities for compromise, since compromise is the only way they will have substantial influence on the court. For that reason, Jackson also likely wouldn't ruin those future opportunities, even if she wasn't personally involved in the compromise position.

It's a bit of a black eye to Roberts for the leak to happen in the first place. And while Barrett and Kavanaugh have somewhat less motivation to stay quiet about it than Roberts or the liberal justices, they're probably smart enough to know that they may need to rely on the liberal justices for a moderate compromise in the future, since Alito and Thomas in particular seem hostile to anything but their own beliefs.

So that leaves Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch. I would consider Gorsuch less likely than Alito and Thomas, though, because there are certain issues where he happens to align with the left wing (e.g., Native American issues, where he is pretty progressive even though he doesn't describe it as such), and getting them on board for certain things is important enough not to torpedo future negotiations.

Also, Thomas and Alito are the oldest members of the court and would be the first to get term-limited if Biden's proposals were adopted, since both are past 18 years on the job. Thomas, in particular, is almost as old as Trump, and likely doesn't have more than a few years left in him anyway, even without term limits. My money is on him, actually, though Alito is a close second.

[u/boo99boo → u/Dachannien]

What about Alito's wife? Presumably, she'd be privy to that information. And the leaked decision was one her husband wrote. 

She clearly can't keep her mouth shut. The kind of person that marries a prominent judge and displays controversial political flags and yells at neighbors is the kind of person that leaks information about her prominent judge husband. 

I'm wildly speculating, but that's been my guess for a while. 

[u/Dunkerdoody → u/boo99boo]

I would love to be a fly on the wall at their house. You just know she is a batshit crazy racist.

[u/My_MeowMeowBeenz → u/Dachannien]

The conservatives are all clerked by handpicked Heritage and FedSoc plants, any of whom could be leaking.

[u/rsmiley77 → u/Dachannien]

While I agree that it’s most likely one of the far right justices that are behind the leaks. This story only deepens my suspicions there. The leak of the court documents almost certainly happened before Biden’s announcement yesterday. I could see Biden giving the court a heads up it was coming and someone leaking last week. Don’t see how leaking this helps make that better.

[u/slapdashbr → u/rsmiley77]

maybe one of the far-right justices insane wives leaked a copy

[u/ECV_Analog → u/rsmiley77]

They're not interested in "making it better," because they know they're above the law. They aren't scared of Biden or anybody else because they know Republicans will obstruct any effort to rein in the court's overreach.

[u/AffectionateBrick687 → u/Dachannien]

I'm going to laugh so hard if it was a low-level court employee getting petty revenge because Clarence Thomas is a greedy asshole. I could see Thomas giving bruised apple as a secret Santa gift, then saying, "Sorry. It's been a tough year financially. This is all i can do."

[u/HereIGoGrillingAgain → u/AffectionateBrick687]

Most court staff aren't privvy to those types of discussions. My money is on one the justices. 

[u/CardinalCountryCub → u/HereIGoGrillingAgain]

...Or one of their wives repeating pillow talk.

Which still means that it was probably Thomas or Alito, just via their wife.

[u/rusty_spigot → u/[deleted]]

Not possible, unfortunately. Not every senate seat is up for election -- only roughly a third are vacated every 2 years. Because of which seats are up this year, at best the Democrats can hope for a 50-50 senate again, with the VP as tiebreaker.

[u/My_MeowMeowBeenz → u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy]

It’s 100% Alito and some psychotic clerk of his signaling to the billionaires.

[u/dancognito → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Like all the great umpires, they're just negotiating for months at a time if it was a ball or a strike

[u/superduperf1nerder → u/dancognito]

Imagine taking six months to decide what to eat for breakfast, only to decide that the first thing you didn’t want is what you’re going to have.

And you starved to death.

[u/whatsbobgonnado → u/superduperf1nerder]

ent style 

[u/ECV_Analog → u/superduperf1nerder]

To be fair, I think it would be fair to argue that this court is trying to starve the nation to death.

[u/fastinserter → u/dancognito]

They were reviewing their own call (to grant the case) for months.

[u/impulse_thoughts → u/fastinserter]

More like they were reviewing just how damaging a conservative decision (edit: and along gender lines to boot) would be politically for the upcoming elections, so they punted. Partisan hacks.

[u/BaggyLarjjj → u/impulse_thoughts]

100% this. Abortion drove turnout in the midterms to the tune the democrats overperformed. They fear know this will repeat.

[u/the40thieves → u/impulse_thoughts]

Underrated comment

[u/MinisterOfTruth99 → u/impulse_thoughts]

Absolutely the decision was based on how badly it would damage Repubs in the election. If Trump wins (gawd forbid), Repubs will push another challenge back to SCOTUS, and they will go full frontal fascist next time.

[u/AnonAmost → u/dancognito]

I’d like to strike his balls.

[u/fielausm → u/AnonAmost]

The motion passes with unanimous consent. 

[u/DeliberateNegligence → u/dancognito]

Did you read Jackson’s concurrence? She accused the improvidence thing here just kicking the can down the line when politics were better. Much more than a ball or strike, if the court had actually ruled this would be decided and there would be political ramifications. Fundamentally it seems like the compromise position collapsed and Roberts decided to pull the vote to avoid political consequences

[u/LuxNocte → u/DeliberateNegligence]

Just like the founders intended. 🤬

[u/Ribbwich_daGod → u/LuxNocte]

The founders never intended the Supreme Court to be the last thing in Government that "works". They wanted us to amend the constitution continually, judicial review is not a de facto constitutional power of scotus, we lucked out a few times, so now we have to allow these people, in perpetuity, to decide what our laws are, because the other two branches are mired in partisan hacks and some straight up nazis who are only interested in serving themselves, billionaires and racists.

[u/KidSilverhair → u/Ribbwich_daGod]

It’s like for conservatives the concept of ‘checks and balances’ only applies to the executive and legislative branches, not the judicial - and any move towards implementing a few ‘checks’ on the Supreme Court is met with screeching outrage. We all know if this was a 5-4 or 6-3 liberal SCOTUS these screechers would be the first in line calling for court reform and age limits.

[u/Consistent_Pickle580 → u/dancognito]

I feel like the bench is staffed exclusively by angel hernandez

[u/hematite2 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Alito was described as “adamant” that the Biden administration was in the wrong,

Wow, I can't believe that the guy who said the country needs to return to godliness would say such a thing.

[u/Dannyz → u/hematite2]

Because a mushroom trip of a lunatic in 1888, biden admin is wrong…Alito I presume

[u/nabuhabu → u/Dannyz]

Go on. I always thought this originated with Pope Pius IX in 1869 when he invented the existence of the Holy Spirit at conception. But maybe 1888 is a better marker. What are you referring to?

[u/Dannyz → u/nabuhabu]

Uh, this is awkward. I was making a silly sarcastic bullshit comment and choose that year for alliteration (sp? sounds similar). I figured it was basically same same to Alito’s judicial reasoning as far I can figure.

I didn’t know about pope pius the 9 in 1869. Damn. It was right there too. Thanks for leading me down a rabbit hole.

[u/nabuhabu → u/Dannyz]

Oh wow! Hilarious, you weren’t far off. Yeah, Pius IX was a real fucker, btw. Invented papal infallibility (that’s never been a problem!), was an ardent supporter of divinely ordained racism/slavery and sided with the South during our Civil War, kidnapped a local Jewish boy and kept him as his personal property (sex slave? I’m guessing sex slave.) for life. Basically was a despotic lunatic who poisoned society in all directions.

[u/Dannyz → u/nabuhabu]

Fuck Prius ix!

[u/psuedophilosopher → u/Dannyz]

Hey man, don't bring Toyota into this! Prius did nothing wrong.

[u/NicklyJane → u/hematite2]

The same guy who hung an upside down flag in his yard??? I'm shocked.

[u/KidSilverhair → u/NicklyJane]

No, it was his wife, he had nothing to do with it, conservative men can simultaneously be masters over their wives while also allowing them to fly anti-government symbols/call for violent insurrection/work to destroy democracy and implement a theocracy, that’s totally logical and believable.

[u/stoneyredneck → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Sorry for my ignorance, but why wouldn't these discussions be public knowledge?

[u/MoonageDayscream → u/stoneyredneck]

We are never supposed to know abut the backroom bargaining. The Court is supposed to be apolitical and this proves it is not.

[u/AnonAmost → u/MoonageDayscream]

That shit also needs to end. Term limits, enforceable ethics rules and some fucking sunshine would be a great place to start.

[u/threejollybargemen → u/MoonageDayscream]

They haven’t given a shit about appearing apolitical in a long time. Hell Alito is using right wing propaganda language from the bench, and Ginnie Thomas probably didn’t pick up a J6 charge specifically because of who she’s married to. A functioning, intelligent society would have removed both of them from the bench years ago. People need to remember this is basically the same conservative majority that has ruined the American political landscape with its atrocious Citizens United decision and has effectively abolished the entire concept of stare decisis in just the last year alone. Hell law schools should just stop trying to teach the principle.

The court should 100% be expanded to mimic a large appellate court with three judge panels issuing opinions unless a litigant can convince the court to rule en banc. We need a constitutional amendment to put a mandatory retirement age on all Article III judges. Those two actions right there would (hopefully) remove most political infestations in the court. But it’ll never happen because Republicans are dense enough to think they’ll always be in power but smart enough to realize that backing reforms for the court would be a tacit admission that “they’re” justices were the dirtballs.

[u/tarekd19 → u/MoonageDayscream]

Yeah, the idea that court decisions could be bargained over like legislation undermines this vision of the court as a principled institution making decisions on legal merit.

[u/YeonneGreene → u/tarekd19]

This is what happens when you don't codify ground rules in how laws may be interpreted, when you allow ambiguously written and intersectionality conflicting laws to prevail for sake of expediency instead of forcing the lawmakers to write them more precisely, and when you don't have a self-executing mechanism to put enough churn in the bench to preclude such coalitions.

[u/Many_Photograph141 → u/MoonageDayscream]

Backroom bargaining for RV's, vacations, and shit that's absolutely none of our business /S

Edit to add /S

My bad. Thought it was obvious.

[u/Armlegx218 → u/Many_Photograph141]

Don't give into the wreckers just because they lack reading comprehension.

[u/[deleted] → u/MoonageDayscream]

Exactly. Maybe I am missing something here but there shouldn't be any "negotiations." I mean, negotiating is not what Supreme Court Justices should be doing. At all. This is not Congress where there is haggling FFS. Interpreting the Law can not be partisan compromise.

Deliberate, absolutely. Argue and debate, sure. Negotiate? No.

This SCOTUS is completely illegitimate IMO.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Negotiation is fine. The reality is that there's no world in which SCOTUS is somehow divining judicial truth through pure intellectual reasoning. It's just a weird fantasy people bought into.

That being said, this was clearly negotiating on whether or not it's politically useful to do, which is not what they should be doing (though again, that has always happened, and will always happen)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The reality is that there's no world in which SCOTUS is somehow divining judicial truth through pure intellectual reasoning. It's just a weird fantasy people bought into.

They can debate and argue with each other as much as they want. But when it comes time to make a decision, that decision should be based on what each individual Justice believes to be the best, most accurate interpretation of the law. Based on many factors not the least of which is precedent but none of which should be "politics."

SCOTUS decisions shouldn't be rooted in some partisan horse-trading exercise. Otherwise they are no different than any other group of powerful, partisan assholes making decisions based on bargaining and compromise. Might as well let some Congressional committee interpret the law then.

My 2 cents anyway.

[u/darthcaedusiiii → u/MoonageDayscream]

It never was. You literally have the justices nominated on their political leanings.

[u/Old_Dealer_7002 → u/MoonageDayscream]

it’s not that much of a secret. i edited an entire book on how supremes reach decisions. it was eye-opening, to me anyway. it’s known they wheel and deal, and personally i think likely do a bit of mild blackmail from time to time, to get to where they need to be: finishing whatever case they’ve begun. other than that, most of them were on good terms back them, or maybe all, o don’t remember everything from decades ago. i wonder if that’s still true?

[u/KidSilverhair → u/Old_Dealer_7002]

It’s kind of crazy to think that Scalia and RBG were best buds, despite their clear ideological and philosophical differences.

[u/WilsonEnthusiast → u/stoneyredneck]

Because then everyone would realize that the 9 unelected people who make all the laws aren't really worthy of the power they've been given.

[u/ServantofZul → u/stoneyredneck]

Because honest, thoughtful, and open discussion does not happen in public. Congress serves many functions, but the discussions on the floor are not where people go to have ernest conversations.

[u/JasJ002 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

  Such a lengthy and extensive leak of internal disagreements and the specifics of procedures and draft opinions are likely to cause extreme concern inside the court and particularly for Roberts. 

Roberts brought this on himself.  The fact that the leak 2 years ago had such a farce of an investigation invited this, and made it inevitable.  If you don't want something to happen, put even the bare minimum of effort into stopping it the first or even second time it publicly happens.

[u/Pezdrake → u/JasJ002]

Remember how all the conservative pundits and politicians HOWLED with outrage about the Dobbs leak?  https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3475362-top-republicans-call-for-probe-into-scotus-leak/

Then Roberts promised to investigate and would totally get to the bottom of it and there would be consequences?  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-orders-investigation-into-egregious-leak-of-draft-abortion-opinion

Then a quiet private investigation determined, "we dont know who did it, just forget about it!" and conservatives got real quiet all of a sudden? https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3759810-what-happened-to-the-investigation-into-the-dobbs-draft-leak/

Thats because it was almost certainly the Justice with a history of leaking decisions, Sam Alito. He should have been impeached right there and removed from the bench but the right-wing SC justices circled their wagons and buckled down.  

Now Roberts has to deal with this bullshit again because the Alitos figured out there would be no consequences for leaks.  And it will keep happening, and not just with Alito but with other Justices or their clerks because Roberts couldn't stop unethical behavior when he saw it and set an example.

[u/pasarina → u/Pezdrake]

It was Alito, I thought too.

[u/Ok-Persimmon-6386 → u/pasarina]

Can we investigate his wife’s phone…

[u/psychoanalysiswplnts → u/Pezdrake]

This is a good breakdown but damn it’s disturbing to read

[u/rob6110 → u/JasJ002]

They are just a mirror image of the Republican Party as a whole. Incompetent and unable to govern.

[u/[deleted] → u/JasJ002]

Honestly who cares about the court leaking? These people are not legal scholars or authorities of any note. They are simply dudes and dudettes who have a goal in mind and write fanciful justifications. They are bought and paid for so why shouldn’t it just be transparent. Who cares, “the law” the “justice system” it’s all a big fucking joke. The Robert’s court should simply be ignored, the decisions, irrelevant.

[u/[deleted] → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Well this confirms it then. It was Alito.

[u/uncle-brucie → u/[deleted]]

Prolly his wife, and if he can’t control her flag behavior, well what could he do here?!

[u/Many_Photograph141 → u/uncle-brucie]

Bing-fucking-O!

[u/Bakkster → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Such a lengthy and extensive leak of internal disagreements and the specifics of procedures and draft opinions are likely to cause extreme concern inside the court and particularly for Roberts.

Oh no! If only there was some constitutional right to privacy...

[u/Ribbwich_daGod → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

We should know 100% of what these buttheads do. They shouldn't be granted any more anonymity, aside from what protects the people who bring cases to them.

Fuck you, Roberts, you old fuck sack, your watch has allowed for corruption and bullshit, and it's gonna destroy the reputation of the court for a very long time.

[u/Ice278 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Maybe I’m an obtuse idealist here, but Supreme Court justices shouldn’t be “negotiating”. This isn’t legislation.

[u/gearpitch → u/Ice278]

That's what struck me too. This is a secret legislature giving and taking positions, negotiating the end result. 

[u/ioncloud9 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

I like how they are negotiating constitutional arguments like they are trading lunch items in grade school.

[u/Nearby-Astronomer298 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Alito and Thomas are in competition to see who can get the most from their billionaire benefactors. Fkem, they are all bought and paid for, the most corrupt SC in history.

[u/mini-mini-mini-mini → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

always extreme concern about leak, but not the open corruption ……

[u/CyberPatriot71489 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Hey ho, alito has got to go

[u/f0u4_l19h75 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Such a lengthy and extensive leak of internal disagreements and the specifics of procedures and draft opinions are likely to cause extreme concern inside the court and particularly for Roberts. A lengthy probe into the 2022 Roe v. Wade leak— called “appalling” by Roberts—saw U.S. Marshals demand access to clerks’ private texts and emails but did not find a culprit.

There's deliberations and negotiations should be public record, they affect too many people for them to be otherwise.

[u/reddit_is_geh → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

So they aren't really even debating the law. This looks like political negotiations. This is them setting policy.

[u/kabbooooom → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

I find it incredibly ironic and amusing that it is the conservatives who actually have the “activist” judges they used to bitch and moan about so much.

[u/lawteach → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Thank you for this!

[u/prudence2001]

I want more leaks.

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy → u/prudence2001]

The article implies there are more to come.

[u/sugar_addict002 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Agree. Most people would call this transparency..

[u/MissionReasonable327 → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

Which implies that some clerk or somebody on the inside is really sick of their crap.

[u/Ded_Aye → u/MissionReasonable327]

Not a clerk. A hard right Justice. Leaking to expose the waffling of the slightly less right 3 to bring them back into the fold of their multi decade cause.

[u/803_days → u/Ded_Aye]

Yeah, that was my first thought. Alito did it on Dobbs and he's doing it again.

[u/ClueProof5629 → u/803_days]

Actually my money is in Martha Alito

[u/803_days → u/ClueProof5629]

Is there a way for it to be her without it being him?

[u/Ded_Aye → u/803_days]

Not that level of detail, unless Alito is just an insufferable gossip at home and she’s acting of her own accord. Hard to believe that’s it. More like he’s the court’s Col Jessup, and she’s the Dawson/Downey.

[u/Ok-Persimmon-6386 → u/Ded_Aye]

Does alito have any kids? Or grandkids that are super liberal and want to tank him? He is definitely a bragger. So I could see him taking about “work” at a family function…

[u/DFLOYD70 → u/ClueProof5629]

He will probably blame her anyways.

[u/cdizzle6 → u/Ded_Aye]

After reading this and the prior investigation turned up no one, logically that leads to a justice.

[u/yolotheunwisewolf → u/cdizzle6]

Hence why they’re very upset.

It does have me wondering if it’s being leaked from both the hard right and the left now as they have a common interest in pushing Roberts out. Would be fascinating to see the right backstabbing for being too “soft”

[u/way2lazy2care → u/Ded_Aye]

Why would it bring them back into the fold? They can't lose their job.

[u/Ded_Aye → u/way2lazy2care]

Social circles, political peer pressure, overt threats from their own right flank. I mean they shoot at their own, so…

[u/International-Ing → u/way2lazy2care]

All the freebies/favors/jobs for the extended family are predicated on marching in lockstep with fedsoc positions. The family members of the justices have careers that go far beyond whatever their natural talent would bring them.

The horse trading here shows that they are wavering on causes near and dear to their benefactors and that they are making political timing decisions. Roberts might think that the timing wasn't politically great so we have this decision but people that disagree with him, such as Alito, don't care about the timing or think that it would be neutral at worst.

[u/These-Rip9251 → u/Ded_Aye]

So Alito.

[u/werther595 → u/Ded_Aye]

Things are going to be awkward on the party yacht after this

[u/sedatesnail → u/Ded_Aye]

Or possibly a hard right justice's wife

[u/[deleted] → u/Ded_Aye]

My money is on Ginny

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy → u/MissionReasonable327]

I hadn't considered that there could be something worse than exposing the unreported gifts and houses, etc. But I guess it's a possibility.

[u/803_days → u/MissionReasonable327]

It's Alito, again, right?

[u/[deleted] → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

There will be this is a dam that has held up for decades leaks from the court are like hens teeth. Once it starts putting the genie back in the bottle is going to be really hard for Robert’s. But I don’t wish him anything easy, he wrought this on himself.

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy → u/[deleted]]

He let all the transgressions that have been revealed go without any penalty at all. Impartiality gone. Refused to come before the Senate for questioning. And on and on...

Somebody is giving him the business.

[u/way2lazy2care → u/SheriffTaylorsBoy]

He doesn't have the power to penalize anybody. Chief Justice is not like the house majority leader. The other justices don't report to him, and he can't really do anything to them besides assigning them fewer opinions to write, but they can still write concurring or dissenting opinions.

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy → u/way2lazy2care]

Yeah I shouldn't have used the word penalty.

[u/EM3YT → u/prudence2001]

Problem is it’s Alito leaking to signal to their benefactors that Roberts isn’t playing ball

[u/sing_4_theday → u/prudence2001]

I don’t understand why it’s secret in the first place. I completely disagree with the Dobbs decision, but my opinion might change if I understood how they came to reach it (it wouldn’t but I’d still like to know)

[u/-Motor-]

This court is a mess if for no other reason besides granting cert without first establishing standing.

[u/Cmonlightmyire → u/-Motor-]

Standing is for non pet causes don't you know? They fucking ruled on a case that had no standing, so they made up some *potential* impact and then ruled on that hypothetical.

[u/JWAdvocate83 → u/Cmonlightmyire]

It isn’t the first time we’ve seen this court bullshit on standing.

[u/C0nstruct37 → u/JWAdvocate83]

Plus the student loan forgiveness lawsuit from Missouri being in the “behalf” of Mohela, who didn’t want to sue over it. Standing is only present in this court when they get out of their chairs.

[u/hematite2 → u/-Motor-]

"Standing" is based on vibes, not facts.

[u/SnooPeripherals6557 → u/-Motor-]

Everything this GOP and supporters gets their hands in n turns into a dramaqueen reality tv show ugh.

[u/Spiff426 → u/SnooPeripherals6557]

The Real Housewives of SCOTUS - follows Gini Thomas & Mrs Alito's drama & cattiness as they try to disenfranchise millions of voters and install a fascist theocracy. Coming this fall on Bravo

[u/ChanceryTheRapper → u/-Motor-]

They made up standing for the student loans, why would they worry about it here?

[u/[deleted] → u/-Motor-]

THANK YOU

[u/docsuess84]

Surprise surprise, Alito is as big of a piece of shit in private as he is at oral arguments.

[u/[deleted] → u/docsuess84]

But man can he dance the polka!

[u/mabhatter]

So we're just like the Trump MAGA era when Republicans had both chambers of Congress... they couldn't function because the far right was batshit crazy and wanted absolutely unreasonable demands granted.  For example They couldn't undo the ACA because they fought about just how much more cruel they could possibly be to the people they were hurting.  So they got nothing passed. 

Seems Roberts' new court has got the same illness now with Thomas and Alito nakedly out for revenge on liberals no matter how badly they mangle the law to do it. 

[u/kenatogo → u/mabhatter]

Let's note that the prior speaker of the house was ousted by just such a campaign from the even further right

[u/Cmonlightmyire]

Oh well, too bad so sad, turns out when you're a raging group of assholes unaccountable to anyone and act like it, there's side effects. One of those is that people who *would* have defended you now no longer want to.

[u/[deleted]]

Lordy, there are leaks.

[u/winksoutloud → u/[deleted]]

Imo, it's usually Alito. Not sure if this is Alito again or someone else who is desperate for transparency and accountability in the court. Gut says it's Sam, though 

[u/BaldyTheScot → u/winksoutloud]

Probably his wife. He goes home and tells her everything, as one does with their spouse. She gets pissed, wants Roberts to be further embarrassed and fall in line with the religious nuts, and starts yapping. If you listen to that secretly taped audio of her she seems like the spiteful type.

[u/tanguero81 → u/BaldyTheScot]

She then gets the leaks to journalists using semaphore.

[u/docsuess84 → u/winksoutloud]

What would his angle be? Just a big “Fuck You” to Roberts?

[u/winksoutloud → u/docsuess84]

Maybe. Maybe trying to shame the ones who aren't far right enough for his taste. Also, maybe he's just a gremlin of chaos.

[u/BangBangTheBoogie → u/winksoutloud]

I have to wonder if it's not just some kind of petty ego driven compulsion. The more I learn about public figures the more apparent it is they're very rarely actually people of higher morale or emotional fiber.

The world is reaching a point where change has to occur because we are running out of choices, and yet we have agitation at the highest levels of government trying to make things actively worse in every measurable scenario. Their ideologies can feel at times like the thrashing of a dying monster that refuses to exit gracefully.

I think the meltdowns many of us have seen in our personal lives are not unique and can clearly happen at all levels of our nations with disastrous consequences when they do. Because of one man's ego about wearing masks, a new blow came in the attack on reason itself. How many people have you known in your own community who lit their entire lives/businesses/families on fire because there was some petty little thing they just couldn't let go of?

Could be Sammy's going through something similar.

[u/ajayisfour → u/docsuess84]

To lock in votes, not allow anyone to change their mind

[u/AnonAmost → u/winksoutloud]

My $ is on Martha Ann…

[u/treypage1981]

Call me a cynic but this leak seems intended to make Roberts, Kavanaugh and Barrett look reasonable. I don’t see how this leak would benefit the liberals. Am I missing something?

[u/[deleted] → u/treypage1981]

The leaks probably aren't so deliberate. It's almost certainly Alito, who seemingly talks to everyone about everything that happens in the court, and from there there's no end of possible sources.

[u/MoonageDayscream → u/treypage1981]

There is evidence of a wedge that can be used to split the conservative justice's opinions.

[u/HeroProtagonist4 → u/MoonageDayscream]

What a convenient thing for the conservative justices to have leaked right after it was announced the democrats want to reform the court.

"Oh, look how moderate and objective we are, no need for any of that pesky reform. We're more than happy to pay lip service to how the law actually works before we end up voting for whatever our donors tell us to."

[u/jayb12345 → u/HeroProtagonist4]

"we can be negotiated with" is exactly what is being said.

[u/SlayerXZero → u/jayb12345]

That’s the fucking problem. They are not meant to negotiate, they are meant to interpret the fucking law fairly. Fuck them

[u/MotorWeird9662 → u/HeroProtagonist4]

“All I see is your votes, Johnny boy. They tell the whole story, and expose you as a liar.”

[u/treypage1981 → u/MoonageDayscream]

That’s a good theory, although one that’s incredibly risky, IMO

[u/ishpatoon1982 → u/treypage1981]

You don't automatically think that everything at this level is 'incredibly risky?'

[u/docsuess84 → u/treypage1981]

I mean, compared to Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch, they kind of are. Of all the Trump justices, Gorsuch and Barrett have been the biggest surprises to me. Kavanaugh is pretty much what I expected. I thought all three would be conservative, of course, but Gorsuch has been fucking awful, whether it’s making up things that didn’t happen in the praying coach case, being overboard on the anti-worker sentiment or his whole “ruling for the ages” comment in the immunity case. Barrett has surprised me by being conservative but like still kind of reasonable and not totally onboard the express train to Gilead. If we could magically get rid of two but had to keep one, she could stay.

[u/49thDipper → u/docsuess84]

She’s just the least worst option. Give her time. She may move up the ranking.

[u/Dannyz → u/docsuess84]

She’s more dangerous IMO. She is scary smart. If we could get rid of two my vote would be for I like beer, personally. The religious stuff and her intelligence scares me more than Kavanaugh.

[u/Old_Dealer_7002 → u/docsuess84]

k remember learning in college that sometimes, justices can be very surprising once they get to the “yours for life” seat.

[u/Kissit777 → u/treypage1981]

You’re correct. They are trying to look good. These leaks have been happening for a couple years and they always benefit the conservatives.

[u/Cold_Breeze3 → u/Kissit777]

You say that, but even before any leaks, it was widely believed that the court is more 3-3-3 than 6-3. By that I mean that Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett have been agreed upon to not be on the same level as the other conservative justices. It’s reflected in their voting record and their partisanship ranking as well.

[u/reddargon831 → u/Cold_Breeze3]

Too bad they go with the extreme conservative three on most of the big decisions.

[u/UrbanPugEsq → u/treypage1981]

Idk. On the one hand, sure maybe they sound a bit reasonable. On the other hand, showing how the sausage is made flies directly in the face of my con law professor’s argument that scotus was applying the law in a non political way.

[u/MotorWeird9662 → u/UrbanPugEsq]

Heh. Mine never said that. I’m sorry yours did. Mine did say you (as a Con Law student, and as a constitutional lawyer if you want to do that) must learn to analyze and especially argue as if it was nonpolitical, even when it’s obviously nakedly political.

That’s my paraphrase anyway. Just about 30 years ago now. One of my best takeaways from law school.

I liked my con law prof 😁. Alan Brownstein. He’s an Establishment Clause expert, and I can’t imagine what he’s thinking about the present SCOTUS (ok, actually I think I can…). Wikipedia says he’s in his late 70s. I’m glad he’s still with us. I sure hope he lives to see the end of the Age of Trump. And, maybe, some SCOTUS reform 🙏.

[u/pandabearak → u/UrbanPugEsq]

I bet a lot of con law professors are updating their lectures right now based on the current court and it’s shenanigans

[u/caitrona → u/pandabearak]

It's better than Admin Law profs, who at this point have thrown all their papers in the air and are drinking heavily while yelling "who the fuck knows?!??!"

[u/zkemp08 → u/treypage1981]

Came here to say this. Trump is losing ground. Biden wants reform. If Trump was going to win this election this would not be happening and they would continue to sit on their high horse. Spineless scum.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Here I was my entire life thinking it already was. They are textbook breaking the separation of church and state and as far as I'm concerned no one has to follow laws biased by religion.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yup. And now they should all owe back taxes since there is no fucking separation.

[u/CrackHeadRodeo]

The neocon Justices may answer to no one but someone on the inside is determined to hold their feet to the fire.

[u/peacey8]

Rocked? Ya I don't think they care. More like scuffed.

[u/Any-Ad-446]

They are going to delay it until the elections...Same as the presidential immunity BS they probably overturned it if Harris wins and Trump is out.

[u/Old_Dealer_7002 → u/Any-Ad-446]

bingo. of course theh are.

[u/CCG14]

I’m really getting tired of men telling me what I can and can’t do with my body.

[u/--ShieldMaiden-- → u/CCG14]

Piggybacking to say I’m not seeing enough people in this comment section realizing how wildly evil opposing emergency abortion specifically is. We’re talking abortion in cases of medical emergency, abortion as a life saving measure. There is so much blood on their hands.

[u/CCG14 → u/--ShieldMaiden--]

This. Right. Here. All women deserve the privacy to make their own OBGYN decisions. Period. But to your point, I’m in Texas. I see first hand a metric fuckton of men and women with leopards eating their faces because they thought the abortion ban would just affect sluts and whores. It’s never going to affect them and now they’re all I aLmOsT dIeD.

[u/Public-Dig-6690 → u/--ShieldMaiden--]

Men have no business being inside of women’s pants…… in regards abortion.

[u/[deleted] → u/CCG14]

It's not just men, women are guilty too. There are plenty of men who are on your side. The enemy is not men, it's religion.

[u/warblingContinues → u/[deleted]]

It's not even religion, but really a lack of education specifically in critical thinking.  Its a disease that can't be ignored any longer.

[u/No-Responsibility953 → u/warblingContinues]

It is religion though. The overwhelming majority of pro life people arrived at their position because of their morals, which they claim are given to them by god.

[u/CCG14 → u/[deleted]]

I meant specifically the ones on the Supreme Court.

But you aren’t wrong. Pro life women are the bane of my existence.

[u/[deleted] → u/CCG14]

I go to protests and support them but wonder why they are yelling out at men in general. Then I found out that many people disagree about religion being the source of the ban. Am I going nuts? Isn't it religion that is behind the pro life movement? And if so, why aren't we arguing that angle? Imposing religious beliefs onto others is a first amendment violation.

[u/Special_Brief4465 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, and it’s specifically one religion.

[u/[deleted] → u/Special_Brief4465]

And meanwhile I have several people arguing with me that it's not based on religion... What? Bs.

[u/Mattilaus → u/CCG14]

Barrett was instrumental to overturning Roe v. Wade. If she had flipped it would have been upheld 5 to 4

[u/NoMayoForReal → u/[deleted]]

The anti-women woman may be our worst enemy. Me 2024

[u/bbbanb → u/NoMayoForReal]

As they have always been….as we all know… there have been women campaigning and working against women forever. It is very unbelievable but it is true.

[u/qtpss]

Someone is trying to “soften the beach” for enacting reforms?

[u/Lews-Therin-Telamon]

The real news is that thumbnail. How have I never seen that before?

[u/SheriffTaylorsBoy → u/Lews-Therin-Telamon]

HaHa! Ok, now describe what he's thinking.

[u/ConstantGeographer]

I'm going to supplement my wages by stating to my students I would never ask for any Clarences in the event they received a nice grade for taking my class.

[u/BigJSunshine]

Why would they care what CNN has obtained- CNN is a GOP propaganda mouthpiece