House GOP Bill Would Criminalize Supreme Court Leaks

The Hill reports:

A group of 12 House Republicans introduced the Leaker Accountability Act on Tuesday, which would bar any officer or employee of the Supreme Court from “knowingly publishing, divulging, disclosing, or making known in any manner” confidential information such as internal notes, draft opinions, or final opinions before publication learned through the course of employment at the court. The crime would be punishable by up to five years in prison.

House GOP Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson (La.) led the bill, joined by 11 co-sponsors, including GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.). The Supreme Court is notoriously secretive, and until Politico published the draft, no draft opinion in the court’s modern history had leaked to the public before official release. The Leaker Accountability Act would plainly make such leaks from the Supreme Court a crime, though it could not apply retroactively to the source of the leaked Dobbs draft opinion.

Read the full article.

#BREAKING: GOP bill would criminalize Supreme Court leaks https://t.co/3m5QmpAtXT pic.twitter.com/gOludxC5xL

— The Hill (@thehill) May 31, 2022