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Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer mentioned he’d be “amazed” if a fellow justice leaked the courtroom’s draft resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, which successfully ended the popularity of a constitutional proper to abortion.
“Do you have a sense of what the motive of the leaker was?” NBC’s Kristen Welker requested Breyer in an interview aired Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
Breyer shied away from answering instantly, saying he does have theories, however that he was not prepared to debate them at size. Breyer, who retired in 2022, did say who he thought didn’t leak the draft opinion.
“I’d be amazed if it was a judge,” he mentioned.
Breyer’s feedback came amid an interview on his new ebook, “Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism,” which is crucial of conservative justices for his or her resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade.
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Justice Stephen Breyer holds up a copy of the U.S. Constitution as he pronounces his retirement from the Supreme Court on the White House on Jan. 27, 2022. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022 to uphold a Mississippi legislation banning abortion after 15 weeks of being pregnant. The resolution came simply weeks after an unprecedented draft leak revealed by Politico confirmed Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion outlining the choice to successfully finish the popularity of a constitutional proper to abortion.
Following the leak, church buildings and pro-life teams noticed violent and damaging assaults, together with a pro-life heart in New York getting “firebombed” by protesters, menacing graffiti on church properties throughout the nation, and a letter from a radical abortion group known as “Jane’s Revenge” declaring “open season” on pro-lifers. Conservative justices additionally noticed repeated protests outdoors their houses in response to the leak and supreme resolution.
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In beforehand aired parts of the interview, Breyer had described the leak as “unfortunate.”
Crowds outdoors the Supreme Court react to the Dobbs ruling. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
“It’s unfortunate,” he mentioned, with Welker following up and asking, “Were you angry?”
“You try to avoid getting angry or that – you try in the job – you try to remain as calm, reasonable and serious as possible,” he mentioned.
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“I think it was unfortunate,” he repeated. Supreme Court justices, as Breyer famous in his interview, are extraordinarily cautious about publicly talking on points that might land earlier than them in courtroom. Breyer appeared to proceed with this custom in his retirement, selecting his phrases rigorously as Welker peppered him with questions on the leak and landmark resolution.
Breyer joined Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor in writing the dissent to the choice, and mentioned within the interview he didn’t imagine Roe ought to have been overturned.
Stephen Breyer joined Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor in writing the dissent to the Dobbs resolution. (Supreme Court of the United States)
Welker continued asking if Breyer was hopeful the justices may attain a compromise concerning permitting abortion at 15 weeks forward of the choice.
“Did you think that a compromise was possible before the leak around 15 weeks?” Welker requested.
“I usually hope for compromise,” Breyer responded.
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“So you were hopeful there could be a compromise?” she continued.
“You want to put words in my mouth,” Breyer responded lightheartedly. “I’m careful what I say on this. Because I say our interests are different. I don’t want to make news. I’ve written what I thought. If you think there’s news in here or in the dissent, go right ahead. But, I don’t want to say something in addition.”
Breyer added that he “always” thinks compromise is feasible.
Protesters demonstrated outdoors the Supreme Court in Washington in response to the Dobbs resolution. (Joshua Comins/Fox News)
The retired justice additionally shied away from answering whether or not he was “surprised” an inside investigation into the leak didn’t determine a particular person as accountable.
“You want to ask that question to somebody who knows something about it. Ask the people who do internal investigations like that. They’re the people to ask and that they occur all over the government,” he responded, including that he was merely “disappointed, I was sorry about the leak.”
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When requested if he foresees the Dobbs case in the future being overturned, Breyer mentioned, “It’s possible.”
“Don’t know… It’s possible,” he mentioned. “But who knows?”
Members of the Supreme Court, from left, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Elena Kagan and Brett M. Kavanaugh on Sept. 30, 2022. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States through Getty Images)
Breyer was nominated to the nation’s highest courtroom by President Bill Clinton to fill former Justice Harry Blackmun’s seat in 1994. Blackmun wrote the courtroom’s opinion on Roe v. Wade in 1973.
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Breyer resigned in 2022, with President Biden nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson because the successor. She was confirmed the identical yr.
Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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