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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Conservative justices became “targets for assassination” following the leak of his Dobbs vs. Jackson draft opinion which provided publicity for the overturning of the historic Roe vs. Wade precedent that gave women unprecedented abortion right, said Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
“The leak
also made those of us who were thought to be in the majority in support of
overruling Roe and Casey targets for assassination because it gave people a
rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one
of us. And we know that,” Justice Alito said at an event sponsored by the
Heritage Foundation, The Washington Times reported.
A suspect
Nicholas Roske, 26 was busted near the home of Justice Brett W. Kavanaugh in
Montgomery County, Maryland in June. Authorities accuse him of plotting to kill
the conservative judge but he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
“A man has
been charged with attempting to kill Justice Kavanaugh. It’s a pending case so
I won’t say anything more about that,” Justice Alito said, according to The
Washington Times.
Justice
Alito was speaking at an event at the Annual Joseph Story Distinguished Lecture
during a 70-minute discussion with moderator John Malcolm.
Justice Alito
said the May 2 leak of the Dobbs draft opinion to Politico was a “grave
betrayal.”
“It was a
grave betrayal of trust by somebody, and it was a shock because nothing like
that had happened in the past, so it certainly changed the atmosphere at the
court for the remainder of last term,” Justice Alito said, according to The
Washington Times. No one has been identified as being responsible for the leaks.
“I think
that all of us, all of the justices, and I think the people who work in the
building — we have a wonderful staff, I’ll add that — want things to get back
to normal, the way they before all this last term, before COVID, get back to
normal to the greatest degree possible, and that’s what we hope will happen,”
he said. “And I think everybody is working on that.”
While six of the court nine justices were appointed by Republican presidents, the remaining three were appointed by Democrats.