NEGOTIATIONS

SCOTUS Leak Thwarted Roberts’ Push to Save Roe, Report Says

Sources told CNN that the leak all but killed a quiet lobbying campaign by the chief justice to stop short of completely overturning Roe.

Amid debates about whether to overturn Roe, Chief Justice John Roberts lobbied other conservatives to try and protect the constitutional right to abortion, sources told CNN. But when a leaked draft opinion was published in Politico on May 2, Roberts, no longer protected by the court’s private marble walls, lost what little hope he had of swaying the outcome, according to the report. CNN sources say that Roberts focused most of his lobbying efforts on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, with whom he shares a similar background, though it always seemed unlikely that Kavanaugh would change his mind. When the draft got out, a tense environment only grew tenser, and Roberts’ efforts were undermined by all the publicity of the debate. Though Roberts has successfully swayed others in the past, the leak all but cemented justices’ votes and effectively ended his quiet campaign of moderation, sources told CNN.