Justice Samuel Alito Thinks He Knows Who Leaked the Landmark

Progressive policy ambitions meet practical realities as Americans weigh costs and consequences.

Source: Townhall
3 min read
Why This Matters

Samuel Alito is too careful to name names without proof. But he just told the public that the people who know, know. That is a big deal, and it ought to worry anyone who treated the Dobbs leak as a fun Washington parlor game.

New Republican Times Editorial Board

Justice Samuel Alito Thinks He Knows Who Leaked the Landmark
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Justice Samuel Alito is one of the most reliable conservative jurists on the bench. We’re lucky he was confirmed during the Bush White House, as Democrats today would’ve set the Senate floor on fire to block his nomination.

Alito was confirmed when the judicial filibuster was still in place. Today, Democrats who voted for cloture would’ve been dragged through the streets. Alito is mulling retirement, a fact National Public Radio exposed when it jumped the gun and announced his departure from the Supreme Court on the last day of the October 2025 term.

It was classic fake news, but the jurist, who has served since 2006 and is 76, says he’ll consider leaving the bench next year. No doubt he wants to see the Senate’s makeup for next year’s congressional session.

That part was a bit overblown Friday: ‘Alito is announcing that he might consider retiring next year.’ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told CBS News' @JanCBS that he decided to remain on the court after considering whether he could still make a “valuable contribution.” The 76-year-old said he expects to reconsider his decision each year. pic.twitter.com/siSHKoQr49 This is like getting excited for the trailer of a movie that’s set to be released three years from now — calm down.

What is interesting is that he disclosed to Fox News’ Shannon Bream that he might know who leaked the Dobbs opinion, the landmark case that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the decision on the very touchy subject of abortion to the states.

Contrary to the hysterics, it did not ban abortion. Yet the associate justice stopped short of saying who he thought it was, noting the lack of evidence to make this disclosure public. He did, however, seem certain that he has the right person.

And the fact that the leaker was never found remains an abject failure and a national embarrassment. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says he has a “pretty good idea” who leaked the draft Dobbs opinion overturning Roe v.

Wade, but he will not name anyone because his suspicion falls short of the proof needed to identify the person. Shannon Bream: “Do you have an opinion about… pic.twitter.com/OELQYveIbR Shannon Bream: “Do you have an opinion about who you think the leaker was?” Justice Samuel Alito: “I do have an opinion, but the evidence available at this time is not strong enough for the court or for me to say this is the person who was responsible.” The retirement talk is going to get liberals giddy, perhaps thinking the GOP has its own Ruth Bader Ginsburg moment, the late jurist who famously refused to retire under Obama, later died during the first Trump presidency, and who was replaced by Amy Coney Barrett, who has, thus far, been an immense disappointment.

The Dobbs leak was never adequately investigated It should be https://t.co/9HabmtXgPp Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito SPEAKS OUT over the leak of his Dobbs draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, which made all five in the majority targets for “ass*ssination.” “It was a grave breach of the trust that everybody who worked in this building had before that point,… pic.twitter.com/KyhsyfrIAy Editor's Note: Do you enjoy Townhall's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media?

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How We See It

New Republican Times Editorial Board

Samuel Alito is too careful to name names without proof. But he just told the public that the people who know, know. That is a big deal, and it ought to worry anyone who treated the Dobbs leak as a fun Washington parlor game.

We are supposed to believe the FBI and the Supreme Court’s own security office cannot figure out who handed a draft opinion to Politico. Yet one of the nine justices says the answer isn’t exactly a secret. Either the investigators weren’t trying, or they didn’t like where the trail led. The leak was a political operation, not a crime of passion. It happened weeks before the decision was final, with the obvious goal of locking in votes and lighting a national fire under the court.

The left celebrated that breach as a victory for transparency. In reality, somebody inside the court was willing to sabotage its integrity to keep abortion law frozen in place. That is the story Alito is pointing back to. He isn’t threatening anyone. He is stating a fact that has been obvious to anyone not cheering for the leaker: the answer is known, and the silence is a choice.

We didn’t need an investigation to guess whose interests are served by the unanswered questions. Alito just called that bluff. Good for him.

Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.