It's been over a week now since the draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito was leaked indicating the U.S. Supreme Court is looking to overturn Roe v. Wade. As Townhall has covered, the reaction from Democrats, including President Joe Biden himself, has been to ignore the severity of the leak, regardless as to how it is an affront to the legacy of the Court and has led to harassment towards the justices. There's also, though, as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) highlighted on Wednesday, a stunning display of hypocrisy involved.
In three minutes, @chiproytx gets right to why the pro-aborts are so afraid.
— Nate Madden (@NateOnTheHill) May 11, 2022
They can't win the argument democratically. They NEED a judicial thumb on the scale.https://t.co/F5zKyVJMKh
Roy pointed out he noticed his "colleagues on the other side of the aisle sure as hell weren't bothered by this leak, but were when there were leaks that showed a disdain for conservative Hispanic Miguel Estrada in 2003, when there memos outlining specific opposition by my Democratic colleagues, Democrats in the Senate, trying to take down, tear down, and destroy Miguel Estrada, specifically black and white language, because he's a conservative Hispanic."
After he was nominated by then President George W. Bush, Estrada's confirmation to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was blocked by Democrats, including now President Joe Biden, so that he could never make it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rep. Roy then mocked Democrats who would say "'oh, man, can't talk about that memo, 'cause that was a leak of an internal Democrat memo.' No no, that was a horror that we couldn't talk about, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle."
"But crickets, now that the Supreme Court has had a leak of an opinion coming from SCOTUS," the congressman went on to say. It's been at best crickets, considering Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is one of those dismissing such concerns with how the leak could have happened and the fallout that has since ensued.
Referring to Roe and the issue of abortion, Roy asked "what the hell are you worried about," when it comes to Democrats' fears they can't actually win on it. Indeed, the Democrats' position of abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy is unpopular with the American people.
"If we can't win the argument on abortion, in the democratic debates, supposedly, then what's the concern? We know what the concern is. You want the Court to put its thumb on the democratic process, and that's what this is about."
It's not merely the Democrats who have been terribly dismissive about the magnitude of the leak, but the mainstream media as well. On Sunday morning, writing for The Hill, Rebecca Beitsch noted that the "GOP calls for SCOTUS probe set off alarm bells."
From her report:
Calls from high-ranking Republicans for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch its own investigation into the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion are alarming those who say the DOJ would be blurring the separation of powers in pursuit of something that may not even be a crime.
The leak has set off a round of finger-pointing and calls for heads to roll following the history-making release of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
...
Democrats have argued that their GOP colleagues should have more concern about the content of the leaked draft than the fact that it was shared with the public.
“I don’t care how the draft leaked. That’s a sideshow,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote in a tweet. “What I care about is that a small number of conservative justices, who lied about their plans to the Senate, intend to deprive millions of women of reproductive care.”
[Liz Hempowicz, director of policy at the Project on Government Oversight] expressed concern that the intense scrutiny may deter others from sharing concerns about abuse or misdeeds elsewhere in government.
“These kinds of investigations to uncover who a leaker is have a chilling effect,” she said. “This idea of going after this person with their identity is not good from a public policy perspective.”
As Beitsch did acknowledge, Chief Justice John Roberts has announced an investigation of the leak.