On the recordMay 5, 2022
I know we are used to having a lot going on here in Washington, DC, but this week seems like we have been hit by a whirlwind of activity--a war in Europe, COVID-19 still lingering in parts of the world, and then the Supreme Court found itself the victim of an unauthorized leak of a draft opinion, which has created a lot of furor and anxiety and misinformation. One of the things that it has demonstrated is the need to protect the independence of the Court. Justice Antonin Scalia used to say that you can read the constitution and bill of rights of a lot of countries around the world, and they look great on paper. He mentioned that of the old Soviet Union, for example. But he said they are just words on paper without an independent judiciary to enforce them, and he was right. Whoever leaked this draft document obviously intended to create a lot of public pressure--indeed, coercion--on the sitting Justices to either change their minds or to somehow garner a political issue that they would be able to use to divert the American people's attention from things like inflation, crime, the border, and the challenges to our national security and world peace. We have to get to the bottom of this, and I am confident that Chief Justice Roberts will pursue that until the person who leaked it is identified and held accountable.…
