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Remember The Supreme Court Leak Investigation? Why Has Everyone Gotten So Quiet About That?

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This morning, CNN’s Ariane de Vogue reminded her audience that after a whole lot of sound and fury, the Supreme Court has pretty much forgotten about that Dobbs leak.

The justices continue to tut-tut it of course, the required response of an institution desperately trying to keep the masses buying into the charade that the justices still engage in serious “communication” or “collaboration” over the most serious issues on the docket. If anyone took too long to wonder why a novella of an opinion received only the softest of edits between February and the end of June, people might start thinking the Supreme Court approaches these questions as a nakedly political body.

While the justices can bleat about TRADITION with all the gusto of Tevye, but what the public saw was a whole lot of nothing. The final opinion drew the exact same reaction the draft did — because the final opinion essentially was the draft. All we learned was either (a) the justices are rigidly committed to their drafts or (b) the conservative justices are sufficiently spineless that the leak stopped some of them from defecting to join a more muted opinion from the Chief. Neither is a good look for the body nor much of a reason to keep a lid on these drafts.

These aren’t the nuclear codes — not that you can’t just throw those in a pool locker these days — they’re justices writing the exact same tenuously supported opinions that they told us they would write in the first place. For most of the country, the collective reaction to the leak (as opposed to the opinion) was “who cares?”

So justices complain to protect the institution’s dwindling credibility. The most cynical actors in the Supreme Court orbit complain because they bank on that institution’s Star Chamber power:

“Identifying the leaker should be a top priority for the Chief Justice as the leak has endangered the lives of the justices and their families and undermined the rule of law,” said Carrie Severino of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, a former clerk of Justice Clarence Thomas. “The tactic will surely be repeated in the future if the Dobbs leaker is never found and revealed.”

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And yet the Court very publicly threw itself behind an investigation that has produced… zilch.

Or if it’s produced anything, the Court certainly isn’t willing to share. Which, of course, is the same as producing nothing. Hyping up an investigation without delivering to the public is the “my girlfriend lives in Canada, you wouldn’t know her” of inquiries. If the goal was restoring credibility, it’s a fail on all counts.

Even if they’ve found something, the Court’s put itself in a bit of a tight spot. A lot of us assume — with the help of Occam’s Razor — that the leak came from the right wing of the Court and could prove very embarrassing if it turns out to be, oh, I don’t know, a justice’s family member. But if it’s not, the Court will announce that it’s destroying the career of some clerk and have to sell that to a public that already fails to understand why they should care.

So maybe that’s why things have gone quiet from the official channels. We’ll see what they do next…

SCOTUS maintains public silence on Dobbs opinion leak investigation [CNN]

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Earlier: Neil Gorsuch Unintentionally Proves The Farce Of The Supreme Court Leak Story
Supreme Court Leak Reminds Us That Lawyers Are All Useful Idiots

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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