Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is calling for an investigation into the leaking of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court.
During an appearance on Fox News, Cruz said, “Last night when the news broke of a leaked draft opinion, I was flabbergasted. It is truly stunning. In over two centuries of our nation’s history, this has never happened. And this is as corrosive as destructive to the Supreme Court as we’ve ever seen.”
“What it means is that there was some angry, left-wing law clerk who breached the trust to his or her justice, who breached the trust to the Supreme Court, who breached the trust of the American people and took a first draft of an opinion and decided to leak it to everyone.”
Cruz also said that there is “no reason” to doubt the authenticity of the document.
After noting that the final opinion will probably be somewhat different from what was leaked, the Texas senator suggested, “The reason it was leaked is some left-wing presumably law clerk wanted to put political pressure on the five justices that presumably are in the majority right now.”
“They wanted to put heat and they wanted to invoke politics to try to get them to change their vote. And by the way, if that left-wing law clerk succeeds, it will be the most grotesque politicization of the Supreme Court in the history of our nation,” he continued.
Finally, Cruz said, “You mentioned an FBI investigation. I hope there is a serious one. And I hope whoever is responsible for this not only is fired instantly but is prosecuted and serves real jail time for violating the confidences of the Supreme Court.”
Watch the video below:
.@Tedcruz on Supreme Court leak:
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 3, 2022
"This is as corrosive as destructive to the Supreme Court as we've ever seen." pic.twitter.com/LhXgvAwJCJ
Cruz’s comments come after Politico published a report based on a leaked draft majority opinion that appeared to indicate the Supreme Court would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the draft opinion that was leaked.
It reads, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Underscoring the unprecedented nature of the leak, Politico noted, “No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the Supreme Court confirmed that the leaked draft was authentic.
However, the statement said that the draft “does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
Additionally, Chief Justice John Roberts ordered an investigation of the leak and called it a “singular and egregious breach.”
