Roe v. Wade leak: U.S. Supreme Court secrecy questioned

With many lamenting the damage done to the U.S. Supreme Court by Politico’s publication of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Jack Shafer, Politico, May 3, 2022, argues that since Congress has punted decision-making on the legality of abortion to the courts, the Supreme Court is in effect passing law, a process that should be open to the public. Shafer writes, “…the POLITICO scoop is less an intrusion into the Supreme Court’s sanctified domain than it is an investigation into a piece of evolving legislation.”

CNN”s Joan Biskupic, Microsoft News, May 3, 2022, observes that the court has gone to extreme measures to preserve the secrecy of its proceedings, but that President Joe Biden’s bipartisan commission on court reform has debated the issue. She writes that the court feels it is of utmost necessity to protect deliberations, “The court justifiably wants to ensure candid internal debate and allow for persuasive negotiation and changed views. Its ultimate decisions affect people beyond the dueling litigants, reaching the lives and liberties of others across the country and often moving financial markets.”

Fore related FAC coverage, click here, here and here.