Freedom

By Dominick Mastrangelo

Pundits across the conservative media ecosystem are expressing approval and vindication in the wake of news that the Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade.

At the same time, some right-wing commentators and court watchers are expressing outrage that a draft memo of the decision was leaked to Politico late Monday night, arguing the breach was part of a ploy to intimidate justices or change the outcome of the vote before a court opinion is officially made public late next month.

“No matter what you think about this outcome, the leak itself represents a shocking and unprecedented breach of the court’s confidentiality, which is, sacrosanct, and it’s key to the court’s ability on any issue to engage in the give and take and all the decision-making based on the Constitution, not because of political pressure,” said Fox News host Laura Ingraham, a former Supreme Court law clerk, during her nightly show just hours after the Politico story had published.

“It is not up to a law clerk or any employee of the court to leak a decision in what is a naked attempt to try to change the outcome.”

The banner headline on the Drudge Report Tuesday morning blared “END OF THE ROE, OPINION LEAKS, HUNT FOR SOURCE.”

“There is little question that this leak is designed to create threat to the life and limb of any justice who signs onto the majority opinion,” wrote conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro in a tweet on Monday night. “Prosecution to the full extent of the law.”

Several Republican lawmakers parroted similar lines of thought soon after the draft memo was published, celebrating the apparent ruling as a victory for the religious right.

Ari Fleischer, a former White House staffer during President George W. Bush’s administration, called the leak to Politico “an insurrection against the Supreme Court.”

“I’ve already seen people on the Left celebrating this leaker, calling him brave, trying to throw a Hail Mary to stop the ruling from being issued,” Fleischer said. “Who at the Supreme Court will trust each other now if they know that their drafts are going to be leaked, just like everything else in Washington?”

Conservative radio host Mark Levin predicted on Tuesday morning that Democrats will use news of the memo to continue what he characterized as a “grave assault on the Supreme Court.”

“Of course, the Democrat Party is destroying this country,” Levin said. “Look at the confirmation process. It started with Bork. The Democrats targeted him under Kennedy and Biden, and it moves on to others, including Clarence Thomas, including Kavanaugh. Republicans don’t treat Democrat nominees this way. They may object to them. When you say the Supreme Court doesn’t look like America, you’re undermining the credibility of the court.”

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Longtime conservative radio and cable news host Glenn Beck tweeted “THANK GOD” in all caps while calling for the leaker to be identified and prosecuted.

“Who released this?” Beck asked. “They should be found and punished if against the law. This is the 1st time in our history.”