Supreme Court says it did not identify Dobbs leaker

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court said it had not identified the individual who leaked the draft of last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Opinion that overturned the constitutional right to abortion.

The draft opinion issued by POLITICO last May was almost identical to the formal decision issued the following month. Chief Justice John Roberts ordered an investigation into what he called “grave betrayal” the day after the draft opinion was published.

Never before has the full opinion been made available to the public before the court is ready to issue it.

According to a report from U.S. Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley, investigators conducted more than 125 interviews with about 100 employees, “all of whom denied disclosing their opinions.”

“At present, it is not possible to determine the identity of the individuals who may have disclosed the documents or how the draft opinion ended up in politics on the basis of the preponderance of the evidentiary standards,” the report said. “No one has confessed to publicly disclosing this document, and none of the available forensic or other evidence provides a basis for identifying individuals as the document’s provenance.” I didn’t.”

The report says it cannot rule out the possibility that there was a hack, but so far there is no evidence of it. I got

“While investigators and court IT professionals cannot rule out hacking entirely, the evidence to date does not suggest inappropriate outside access,” the report continues. “Investigators also cannot rule out the possibility that the draft opinion was inadvertently or negligently disclosed, for example, if it was left in a public space inside or outside a building.”

The “risk of intentional and accidental disclosure of confidential court information” increased with the coronavirus pandemic and the shift to working from home, according to the report. Policy gaps have created an environment in which sensitive information can be easily removed from buildings and courtroom IT networks,” the report said.

The High Court said the investigation would continue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.