It's important that the person who leaked the Supreme Court's draft document on the Roe v. Wade issue be discovered, "whether they're from the left, the right, or the middle," because he or she has committed an "unprecedented" breach of trust, Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on Newsmax on Thursday.
"Chief Justice [John] Roberts is right to move forward with having the marshal of the court investigate this," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "All resources the marshal needs, we're going to make available … what they did is wrong. They should be prosecuted and punished to the level allowable."
No one has been named in connection with the leaked document, written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, showing the justices, by a 5-4 vote, plan to overthrow the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion and return determinations back to the states.
"It's important to realize that's a draft," said Blackburn. "That's part of the confidential workings of the justices. Many drafts go back and forth."
She acknowledged that for pro-life advocates, including herself as the only pro-life woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the document was a "sign of encouragement" to see the justices focusing on returning abortion regulations to the state level, "where it belongs," but still said the fact that the draft was leaked is a "very big deal."
"This is an activist looking to change what they perceive to be the decision," Blackburn said. "It's a betrayal of trust that the justice they work for, this clerk has betrayed the trust of a fellow justice. This is why it's a betrayal of the ethics of the court."
Blackburn said she thinks the court is probably "very close to knowing" who sent the draft to Politico.
"Each justice has four law clerks," she said, adding that each printer at the Supreme court has a certain coding "so you would know what printer this was printed from, scanned, and given over to Politico."
There has been some discussion since the leak that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, the court will then turn its attention to outlawing gay marriage and other protections, but Blackburn rejected that.
"This also does not ban abortion, which they're also saying," she said. "That is not true. It sends the issue of abortion back to the states for rules and regulations, but when you read if these guys would take the time to actually read what Alito has written, they would see that this is specific to the issue of abortion."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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