Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called on Tuesday for the Department of Justice to investigate and pursue charges regarding those responsible for a leaked Supreme Court opinion regarding a key abortion-related case.
McConnell shared the remarks during a Senate floor speech on Tuesday.
Roe v. Wade uproar: McConnell calls for prosecution of Supreme Court leaker https://t.co/Y2VEJsDRUn
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 3, 2022
Impacting the court
“Somebody, likely somebody inside the court itself, leaked a confidential brief to the press, to stir up a pressure campaign,” McConnell said. “Whoever committed this lawless act knew exactly what it could bring about.”
McConnell associated the leak with the same movement that pushed Justice Stephen Breyer to move up his retirement announcement.
“The same political movement that used a leak to move up the timeline of Justice Breyer’s retirement process is trying to use yet another leak to make the court less secure and less impartial,” he added.
A stunning breach
“Last night’s stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court,” McConnell also said in a statement on Twitter.
“By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law,” he added.
Last night’s stunning breach was an attack on the independence of the Supreme Court. By every indication, this was yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law. pic.twitter.com/wvigWvPqm7
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) May 3, 2022
The Mississippi case claimed to have the five votes needed to overturn the nearly 50-year ruling, with the support of conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice John Roberts.
The leak of Alito’s opinion will likely be the subject of intense investigation.
The case was already of huge significance. The new twist will draw even more attention as the nation considers laws related to the unborn.