SCOTUS Clerks Consider Lawyering Up As Leak Investigation Seeks Private Cell Phone Records

While the Supreme Court has largely fallen out of the news cycle in the last week, inside the high court, things are heating up as the search continues for the person(s) responsible for leaking a draft opinion showing a majority had voted to strike down Roe v. Wade. 

According to new reporting from CNN on Tuesday, the Supreme Court authorities tasked by Chief Justice John Roberts with running the investigation are "taking steps to require law clerks to provide cell phone records and sign affidavits."

The escalating investigation has caused Supreme Court clerks to become "so alarmed over the moves, particularly the sudden requests for private cell data, that they have begun exploring whether to hire outside counsel." 

Bravo to the Chief Justice and his colleagues. This should not go unpunished and the pall over innocent clerks is unacceptable. The leaker should step forward but his or her cowardice will probably prevent that. https://t.co/uK6T5ypn8V

— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) May 31, 2022

Also according to CNN, the Chief Justice met with the Court's clerks following the breach — but it's unclear if Roberts conducted any sort of individual interviews himself with employees about the leak. 

The fact that the SCOTUS investigation has ratcheted up suggests that the initial investigation didn't reveal the source(s) of the leak — and that no one has copped to breaching the long-standing integrity of the institution. 

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While Chief Justice Roberts and others on the high court would presumably like to move beyond the leak that shocked the legal world, it seems that the leaker is not going to go quietly as the investigation heats up. 

Roberts, who ordered Marshal of the Supreme Court Gail A. Curley to investigate the leak on May 3, has continued to carry out the business of the Court as usual, despite the unprecedented events of the last month that have seen pro-abortion protestors target the homes of justices who were shown to strike down Roe in the leaked draft. Several decisions from the current term have already been released, but the final opinion that was previewed in the leak — Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — has not yet been released.