The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the individual(s) who leaked the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.
Investigation Details
The probe, led by U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro’s office, has intensified with grand jury subpoenas and requests for testimony from former court staff.
The New York Times first reported the investigation on Thursday, and Fox News later confirmed the findings, citing unnamed sources.
The leak became public in May 2022 after Politico published a draft of the Dobbs majority opinion, which mirrored the final ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Chief Justice John Roberts assigned Marshal Gail Curley to conduct an internal inquiry, but the 2023 report concluded that investigators could not identify the leaker under the preponderance of evidence standard.
The breach damaged the Court’s internal trust and put the justices’ safety at risk.
Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist reported that the leak endangered the lives of the conservative justices in the Dobbs majority, prompting threats against their private homes.
Justice Samuel Alito’s family was relocated, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett wore a bulletproof vest in front of her children, most of whom still lived at home.
A would‑be assassin attempted to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his residence, and the perpetrator received a light sentence from a Biden‑appointed federal judge.
Despite the threats, the Court’s liberal justices delayed their dissent, slowing the release of the decision while colleagues faced danger.
Threats against the conservative justices have continued, and the failure to identify the leaker has spurred additional internal leaks, including the 2024 release of 2016 memos obtained by The New York Times.
Justice Alito told Fox News that he has an opinion on the leaker, but the available evidence is not strong enough to name a suspect, a view he reiterated in a 2023 interview.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He co‑received the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism, and his work has appeared in RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood.
