In wake of the leaked draft opinion on the possible overturn of the Roe v. Wade document, Republicans want to punish those who leak sensitive information and hold them accountable for their actions.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) proposed a new legislation that seeks to punish anyone who is convicted of leaking a pending U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion with fines up to $10,000 and 10 years in prison.
Titled Stop Supreme Court Leakers Act of 2022, the bill would also seize any profits the leaker made as a result of their actions, claiming that the person should not receive a reward for leaking confidential information.
“There is a portion in there which seizes profit stemming from the crime. So the person who wants to do a book deal where they're going to profit from what they've done, that would be affected,” Cassidy told the Washington Examiner.
According to Cassidy, the attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh sparked the senate to take action, calling out liberal media outlets for ignoring the heinous act.
“The attempted assassination of a sitting United States Supreme Court justice was a direct result of the dangerous and unprecedented leak. While the mainstream media may ignore this horrific story targeting a conservative justice, the American people want the leaker to be held accountable,” Kavanaugh said.
Cassidy also gave his thoughts as to who may be the person or persons behind the leak, saying he has “two schools of thought.”
One, which according to the Republican would be difficult to determine the leaker, and the second is “that they would know, but they don't want to distract in advance of the release of the opinion. And both are plausible.”
The recent #SCOTUS leak was an attempt to publicly intimidate justices & undermine the integrity of the Court—all while putting lives at risk.
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) June 23, 2022
Just introduced the Stop Supreme Court Leakers Act to hold leakers accountable & take away any hopes of profiting off their crimes.