Three Years Later, We Still Don’t Know Who Leaked The Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision

WASHINGTON—Three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, authorities have not determined who leaked the draft opinion.

The failure to track down the Supreme Court leaker has baffled the public and angered many on the Right, who consider the leak a politically-motivated attempt to stop the Court from overturning Roe. The Court conducted an investigation into the leak, but said in January 2023 that they could not identify the leaker — and possibly never will.

“In time, continued investigation and analysis may produce additional leads that could identify the source of the disclosure,” the Supreme Court’s 2023 statement said. “Whether or not any individual is ever identified as the source of the disclosure, the Court should take action to create and implement better policies to govern the handling of Court-sensitive information and determine the best IT systems for security and collaboration.”

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino revealed in May that the FBI is giving increased scrutiny to the “leak of the Supreme Court Dobbs case,” among a few other high-profile cases that have not been properly investigated.

“I receive requested briefings on these cases weekly and we are making progress,” Bongino said in late May. “If you have any investigative tips on these matters that may assist us then please contact the FBI.”

The leak of the draft opinion prompted protests outside the Maryland and Virginia homes of the conservative Supreme Court justices — illegal protests in violation of 18 USC 1507, which prohibits picketing or parading near the home of a judge “with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice.”

In addition to the protests, the Dobbs leak prompted attacks on pregnancy centers and churches all across the United States. According to CatholicVote trackers, at least 96 pregnancy centers and 343 churches have been attacked, vandalized, firebombed, or otherwise terrorized since the leak.

In many cases, vandals spray-painted the messages “if abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and autographed the destruction, “Jane’s Revenge,” a reference to “Jane Roe,” the pseudonymous plaintiff in the landmark abortion case.

Radical leftist groups published Supreme Court justices’ addresses online and urged protestors to make the justices uncomfortable in efforts to save Roe. Justice Samuel Alito has said that the leak made the justices “targets for assassination.”

Though both Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and then-Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) begged the Justice Department to enforce that law as far-Left activists continued their protesting, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department did not respond to these requests until June 8, 2022, the very same day that authorities arrested Nicholas Roske and charged him with attempting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Protesters march past Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home on June 8, 2022, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

“We thought there would be more urgency,” Michael Ricci, who served as Hogan’s spokesman, told The Daily Signal in January 2023. “In this climate, there are any number of threats, both specific and vague, against public officials. And we thought there would be more urgency about protecting the perimeter of the justices’ homes, and by extension, their neighborhoods.”

Far left protestors with @OurRightsDC march by Justice Kavanaugh’s home in the rain. Police stand guard. pic.twitter.com/4lHnEOvpsK

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) January 22, 2023

Authorities arrested 26-year-old Nicholas Roske in 2022 in Kavanaugh’s Maryland neighborhood, carrying a bag full of weapons and burglary tools, after he called the police on himself. Court filings show that Roske described himself as “actively suicidal” and said he wanted to “do something positive before I die” by taking out Kavanaugh before the justice could vote to overturn Roe.

He found Kavanaugh’s neighborhood online, according to court documents, after he saw an article with a “picture of the family’s house,” including the house number.

“I was thinking about — I was thinking about killing Brett Kavanaugh and then killing myself,” he said to the officers who arrived on the scene, according to January court filings. “And then I texted my sister that I loved her. And then she called me and she told me not to do it. And then I called 9-1-1-.”

“I saw the news and it was upsetting, and I was already suicidal,” he told detectives later, as he described how he tracked down Kavanaugh’s home and planned the assassination. “And I don’t know. It was something to — it was like a project I guess…”

Law enforcement officers stand guard as abortion rights activists with Our Rights DC march in front of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house on June 29, 2022, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“When I saw the leaked draft, it made me upset and then it made me want to — I don’t know,” he shared. “I was under the delusion that I could make the world a better place by killing him.”

Roske allegedly flew from California to Dulles International Airport after he found Kavanaugh’s home using media photographs of protests outside the justice’s home, protests which began after POLITICO’s May 2022 publication of a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe.

POLITICO itself acknowledged that its publication of the unprecedented leak would stir up controversy. They were named as a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for the story, though the story did not win the prize.

“No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending,” wrote journalists Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward. “The unprecedented revelation is bound to intensify the debate over what was already the most controversial case on the docket this term.”