Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito canceled his appearance at the next court conference, two days after the draft decision he wrote in the historic abortion protection case in Roe v. Wade, who leaked Politico.
It was first reported by Reuters that Alito is due to speak at the 5th District Conference of the United States District Court of Appeals this week. The event is hosted by judges from a region that includes Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Alito is a judge appointed to review appeals by the Extraordinary Supreme Court of District 5.
Patricia McCabe, a court spokeswoman, confirmed in the TV report that Alito would not attend, but gave no further details as to why she canceled it.
Alito, a member of the Conservative Bloc of Six Courts, was the author of the majority draft opinion that overturned Roe’s decision in 1973, calling it “completely wrong from the start.”
“We believe that Roe and Casey should remove … it’s time to look at the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” the draft said.
The court’s official decision on this issue is final only when it is published in the next two months and judges can change the votes before that. On Tuesday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the bill was true, resulting in national condemnation by Democrats and civil rights activists.
The fact that the draft report was completely leaked is surprising and very rare to discover the court’s thinking before the report was published. Roberts promised to investigate the leak, saying it was a “betrayal”.
Roberts and Judge Clarence Thomas are expected to give a similar lecture in court for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, though it’s not clear if they’ll actually attend, Reuters reported. The circular conferences were the first personal event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Huffpost
