Justice Alito says leak of abortion opinion made majority ‘targets for assassination’
Alito #Alito
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said Tuesday that the leak of his draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade made his colleagues in the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court “targets for assassination.”
The leak last spring before the court eliminated the nationwide right to abortion was a “grave betrayal of trust by somebody, and it was a shock,” he said. The threat to the justices, he added, was not theoretical because it “gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us.”
He noted that a man has been charged in an alleged attempt to kill Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who was in the majority to overturn Roe. The California man, arrested near the justice’s home before the final opinion was released, was upset by the leaked draft, authorities said.
The 14th Amendment: Understanding its crucial legal impact
SHARE
SHARE
TWEET
SHARE
What to watch next
Crowds march to burial site of Mahsa Amini
Reuters
Meet the trailblazing Black women’s group who climbed Kilimanjaro
TODAY
Narcan: Saved at Sea
CBS News
Hope Hicks sits for interview with Jan. 6 committee
MSNBC
NATO forces conduct defense drills
CBS News
MD Governor Candidate Loop
The Washington Post
Did Fetterman lose the battle but win the war last night?
MSNBC
John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz face off in Senate debate as race heats up in Pennsylvania
USA TODAY
Penn State University student gives back after battle with cancer
CBS News
NATO and Western Allies Say Russia’s ‘Dirty Bomb’ Accusations ‘Transparently False’
Veuer
Iranian protesters gather outside universities – video
Reuters
Senator calls out opponent’s extreme views, says he’s ‘way out of step’ with voters
MSNBC
Group of Black women make historic climb to Mount Kilimanjaro
CBS News
Listen to Trump pressure Blake Masters over election denialism
CNN
Kathy Hochul Presses Lee Zeldin Asking Him If Trump Was A Great President
Newsweek
Click to expand
UP NEXT
Alito’s remarks during an event at the Heritage Foundation touched on criticism of the court, relations between the justices and proposals to expand the size of the Supreme Court. His comments come as polls show public approval of the court has dropped to record lows after the conservative majority allowed greater restrictions on abortion, expanded gun rights and limited the government’s power to address climate change.
When asked about criticism that the court has strayed too far from public sentiment and risks appearing partisan when it overturns precedent, Alito said he has no problem with the public, the media and academics criticizing the court’s legal reasoning in its rulings. But he took issue with those who have questioned the legitimacy of the court.
“To say that the court is exhibiting a lack of integrity is something quite different. That goes to character, not to a disagreement with the result or the reasoning. It goes to character,” Alito said.
The justice did not refer to any colleague by name nor did the interviewer, John G. Malcolm of the Heritage Foundation, but both were clearly referring to comments from Justice Elena Kagan, who dissented when the court overturned the landmark Roe decision. Kagan said during a legal conference in July that the court’s legitimacy is threatened when long-standing precedent is discarded and the court’s actions are seen as motivated by personnel changes among the justices.
“Someone also crosses an important line when they say that the court is acting in a way that is illegitimate. I don’t think anybody in a position of authority should make that claim lightly,” Alito said. “That’s not just ordinary criticism. That’s something very different.”
Even as he took some of the blame for pointed, passionate language in the court’s opinions and dissents, Alito emphasized that the justices “have always gotten along well on a personal level” and are eager to return to normal after coronavirus restrictions and the “changed” atmosphere at the court after the unprecedented leak last spring.
“We have not in recent years been all that restrained about the terms in which we express our disagreement. I’m as guilty as others on that score,” Alito said, but “none of that is personal.”
In response to a question about proposals to expand the size of the Supreme Court, Alito said the number of justices is for Congress to decide. President Biden convened a bipartisan commission of legal scholars to examine possible changes to the high court in response to calls from Democrats to restore ideological “balance” on the court, now with three liberals and six conservatives, including three justices picked by President Donald Trump. The commission’s report described disagreement about proposals to add justices.
Without tipping his hand, Alito said Tuesday that a court should not be so large that its work becomes unwieldy and cautioned about making changes for political reasons.
“If Congress were to change the size of the court and the public perceived that the reason for changing the size of the court was to influence decisions in future cases,” Alito asked. “What would that do to the public perception of our independence and our legitimacy?”
Robert Barnes contributed to this report.