The leaking of an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion rights is raising eyebrows due to the blunder bearing similarities to the early release of the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
A copy of the Supreme Court's decision in Moyle v. United States, a case challenging Idaho's near-total abortion ban, was accidentally and briefly uploaded to the court's website on Monday, according to Bloomberg News.
The leaked decision shows that the court, which currently has a 6-3 conservative split, is poised to rule against Idaho and will allow practitioners in the state to perform abortions when the pregnant patient's health is at serious risk.
The Moyle leak came almost exactly two years after the court officially overturned Roe v. Wade by issuing its Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.
A draft version of the Dobbs decision, penned by conservative Justice Samuel Alito, was leaked almost two months earlier before the official ruling, igniting a firestorm of controversy over the still-unknown source of the leak.
The fact that both leaks concerned rulings on abortion did not go unnoticed on social media, with some suggesting that it may not be a coincidence and the court had been "compromised."
"What is it about abortion decisions and Supreme Court internal controls?" legal analyst and attorney Jonathan Turley wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Two years ago, the Dobbs decision was leaked..."
"This time, is there any chance we Americans will be granted the extreme honor of being told how exactly this latest Supreme Court leak occurred?" wrote presidential historian Michael Beschloss.
"In the last few decades, how many decisions have been leaked out of the Supreme Court?" @LACentrist wrote. "I can only think of two. Dobbs and now Idaho. The country's highest court is compromised."
"Curious that the only 2 #SCOTUS leaks both had to do with abortion rights," CNN host Michael Smerconish wrote.
"This is a political calculation, designed to improve the chances for the GOP. The GOP is determined to shutdown all abortions, birth control, IVF and more," @jeffreyjonsmith wrote. "And also: the leak was NOT 'inadvertent.'"
Supreme Court spokesperson Patricia McCabe explained in comments to Bloomberg that the leak had happened due to "the Court's Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly" uploading "a document to the Court's website," while adding that the official decision would be "issued in due course."
Newsweek reached out for comment to McCabe via email on Wednesday evening.
The Moyles decision, if the leaked version is accurate, is expected to be a 6-3 ruling, with conservative Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissenting.
The court is set to go into recess soon and is likely to release the official version of the ruling by early next week. Rulings on former President Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity in criminal matters and the fate of some criminal charges against January 6 Capitol rioters are also expected.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
