Justice Alito Reveals Little About Supreme Court Leak Fallout

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Feb. 23, 2016. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito remained tightlipped about the court’s Roe v. Wade leak in a public address on May 12 even as pro-abortion demonstrators held protests across the country over the potential strike-down of the 1973 judgment.

Alito was speaking to a crowd at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, remotely from the Supreme Court seven miles away. He was asked whether he was doing all right during these “challenging times,” according to the Washington Post.

“This is a subject I told myself I wasn’t going to talk about today regarding, you know—given all the circumstances,” Alito said. “The court right now, we had our conference this morning, we’re doing our work. We’re taking new cases. We’re headed toward the end of the term, which is always a frenetic time as we get our opinions out.”

According to the draft opinion, written by Alito, at least five Supreme Court justices had supported overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which protected abortion as a right and prohibited states from passing laws that would restrict it. Following the leak, Chief Justice John Roberts opened an investigation into the matter.

Since then, pro-abortion protesters have targeted the homes of Supreme Court justices Roberts, Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. On May 9, protesters shouted expletives outside Alito’s home. However, no violence was triggered according to Second Lt. James Curry, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Police Department.

“Officers remained on scene to ensure the safety of the participants, our community members, and the roadways until the crowd dispersed on their own. No arrests were made,” he told The Epoch Times in an email.

During the May 12 event at the Antonin Scalia Law School, around two dozen protesters gathered outside the campus plaza near the law school building and chanted slogans like “Hey hey, ho ho, Alito has got to go! Hey hey, ho ho, we must defend Roe.”

The protesters consisted mainly of students from the university, with some denouncing the institution’s decision to host Alito. Pro-life activists were also at the site, with one person holding a megaphone and shouting “Abortion is violence! Abortion is oppression!”

The protests against Supreme Court justices have drawn criticism. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in an interview with Fox News that the protests show the “complete hypocrisy” of Democrats and the media.

During the Jan. 6, 2021, protests, Democrats and the corporate media called the demonstrators “insurrectionists,” he noted. “And yet in this instance, they are not willing to call off their goons even now, even now as this has the potential to escalate and escalate further.”

“These images are the latest manifestation of just how extreme, just how radical, the Democratic Party is getting,” Cruz said.