Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

McConnell attacks Democrats for being insufficiently outraged over Supreme Court leak

Kentucky Republican says justices should ‘tune out the bad-faith noise and feel totally free to do their jobs, following the facts and the law where they lead’

Andrew Feinberg
Washington, DC
Tuesday 03 May 2022 16:56 BST
Comments
Biden says he is not ‘prepared’ to leave abortion law to the ‘whims of the public’

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday lashed out at Democrats for failing to complain about the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would allow states to force women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term and instead choosing to criticise the draft opinion itself.

Mr McConnell – who was instrumental in allowing former president Donald Trump to appoint three of the justices who joined Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion striking down a half-century of precent by overruling Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey – called the leak a “stunning breach” meant as an attack against the high court’s independence.

Citing no evidence, the Kentucky Republican attributed the disclosure of Justice Alito’s 10 February draft to the “radical left” out of a desire to “bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law”.

It is unknown who provided a copy of the draft document to Politico, but many veteran court-watchers have suggested that it is equally possible the leaker is someone aligned with the conservative majority on the court who wishes to prevent any of the justices from reversing course.

Mr McConnell condemned President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for issuing statements criticising the court’s apparent decision to allow states to compel women to give birth against their will rather than express outrage at the leak, calling their statements “disgraceful” and accusing them of “[refusing] to defend judicial independence and the rule of law and instead play[ing] into this toxic spectacle”.

“Real leaders should defend the Court’s independence unconditionally,” said the Republican leader, who in 2016 refused to allow then-president Barack Obama to place then-District of Columbia Circuit Judge Merrick Garland on the court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia by claiming Senate precedent barred a president naming a justice in an election year, but reversed course to allow Mr Trump to appoint Justice Barrett just weeks before the 2020 election.

Mr McConnell called for the “lawless action” of the leak to be “investigated and punished as fully as possible,” by criminal charges if necessary, and urged the court to “tune out the bad-faith noise and feel totally free to do their jobs, following the facts and the law where they lead”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in