SUPREME DANGER

Alito Says Leaked Abortion Opinion Made Justices ‘Targets for Assassination’

The conservative jurist called the publication of the draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade a “great betrayal of trust.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito says the leak of the draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade put conservative justices in mortal danger. While speaking at an event at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C. late Tuesday, Alito was asked about how the June leak affected the court. “It was a great betrayal of trust by somebody, and it was a shock, because nothing like that had happened in the past, so it certainly changed the atmosphere at the court for the remainder of last term,” he said. “The leak also made those of us who were thought to be in the majority in support of overruling Roe and Casey targets for assassination, because it gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us.” Alito also referred to the charges against Nicholas John Roske, who has been accused of trying to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh after Roske was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home in June armed with a knife, gun, and pepper spray.