Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito revealed last week that he strongly suspects, but cannot prove, the identity of the person who leaked a draft copy of the Dobbs decision last year.

Alito, who spoke to a pair of Wall Street Journal opinion writers, authored the decision and was one of the justices who became a target of left-wing and pro-abortion activists in the weeks before the official release of the ruling that ended Roe v. Wade.

“I personally have a pretty good idea who is responsible, but that’s different from the level of proof that is needed to name somebody,” Alito told the WSJ writers.

What Alito could reveal was that, whoever the leaker might have been, he or she helped to create “an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust” and paved the way for numerous acts of potentially illegal protest and coercion near the homes of conservative justices.

“And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside — as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court,” Alito said.

The threat to justices’ safety was real in the wake of the Supreme Court leak. Many have speculated that this was part of the plan of the person who violated the code of the court, by putting pressure on the justices to not overturn Roe v. Wade.

Last year, FISM reported about the arrest of a man, armed with a pistol and tactical knife as well as other items that could be used to aid in a kidnapping, at the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The FBI later alleged that the suspect, who has been charged with attempted murder, had told colleagues online that he intended to kill at least three justices, enough to reshape the makeup of the court and prevent the end of Roe.

“It was a great betrayal of trust by somebody,” Alito said of the leak in a 2022 interview. “And it was a shock because nothing like that had happened in the past. So it certainly changed the atmosphere at the court for the remainder of last term.”

He added, “The leak also made those of us who were thought to be in the majority in support of overruling Roe and Casey targets for assassination because it gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us.”

The leak was investigated by the Marshal of the Court, but that effort did not produce enough evidence to support an arrest.

Alito defended the investigation, telling the Journal writers he believed the Marshal “did a good job with the resources available.”