In an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s opinion pages, the justice rejected the theory that the leak had come from the right.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the author of the majority opinion that overruled Roe v. Wade last June, told The Wall Street Journal’s opinion pages that he had “a pretty good idea who is responsible” for leaking a draft of his opinion to Politico.
Justice Alito added that he did not have “the level of proof that is needed to name somebody.” That echoed language in the Supreme Court’s report on its investigation of the leak, which said that “investigators have been unable to determine at this time, using a preponderance of the evidence standard, the identity of the person(s) who disclosed the draft majority opinion.”
The interview, which was conducted on April 13 and published on Friday, was as interesting for its existence and forum as for its substance, which was mostly familiar.
A few days before the Politico bombshell last May, an editorial in The Journal provided hints about tensions at the court that appeared to be based on inside knowledge. The editorial expressed concern that Chief Justice John G.
