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Supreme Court: What’s lurking behind 3 leaks in 9 days?

A Supreme Court leak is highly unusual, but not unprecedented. Three leaks in nine days is unique in American history.

The first leak was Alito’s draft on May 2. The second, on May 7, was inside information about the justices’ deliberations. The third, on May 11, was information that  conservative justices were making Roberts “pay a price” for upholding Obamacare. (Details here.) Two leaks were to Politico, one to Washington Post.

Republicans in Congress, notably Ted Cruz, blamed the leaks on a “liberal law clerk.” Asked what his evidence was, Cruz replied, “I’m not a moron.” (Yes, he is.)

MSNBC pointed out that it’s “amazing that Politico’s report exists … in general, leaks like these simply do not happen. The fact that the [Supreme Court] is suddenly leaking like a sieve, about a case of profound historical significance, is stunning.” It’s also suspicious.

Because it’s unlikely this would be happening unless one or more justices wanted it to. Roberts has launched an internal investigation to identify the leaker, and no doubt he would like to. This is coming from someone else.

Another MSNBC story (here) pointed out about the Washington Post report that “only eight people would have heard what Roberts said at the court’s December conference — the other eight justices.” There’s no way that information reached the press unless one of those justices talked to someone.

The Washington Post reported their source was “a person close to the most conservative members of the court.” That kinda rules out the “liberal leaker” theory, doesn’t it?

We know that Roberts is trying to get Kavanaugh to vote for an opinion upholding the Mississippi law without overturning Roe v. Wade. It appears the other conservative justices are retaliating against Roberts for upholding Obamacare by undercutting his authority, and they’re also trying to hold onto Kavanaugh’s vote for overturning Roe v. Wade. The leaks are part of their plot. From the beginning, it’s been speculated in the press that Alito’s draft was leaked to keep the other conservatives on board with it. It now looks like that speculation is grounded in fact.

The chances that three leaks in a little over a week were spontaneous are zero. They’re part of a coordinated scheme. And the only plausible schemers are on the conservative side, because the three liberal justices have nothing to gain from the leaks. The leaker probably won’t be found, because that person is either a justice, or a messenger from the conservative justices who they’re protecting.

As the MSNBC articles point out, the Republicans in Congress have shifted gears, from screeching about the leaker to denying that overturning Roe v. Wade would imperil any other long-established individual rights (which no one on the liberal side believes). Maybe they’re not as stupid as Cruz. Or maybe someone close to the court leaked a message to them to shut up about the leaker.

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