Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer weighed in on the 2022 Dobbs ruling leak during a new NBC “Meet The Press” interview, calling it “unfortunate.”
Breyer, who retired in 2022 after the ruling and was replaced by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, spoke to the network about how he tried to remain “calm” during such a chaotic event. Still, he acknowledged how tough it was for members of the court.
The leak of the draft ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization from May 2022 threw the Supreme Court into turmoil at the time, signaling to Americans more nearly two months ahead of the decision that the Supreme Court was set to overturn Roe f. Wade.
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The leak put tremendous political pressure on the court ahead of the June 24 decision, which culminated with conservative justices on the bench receiving threats and experiencing protests outside their homes to sway their decision.
During their sit-down, which will air in full on Sunday morning, NBC News anchor Kristen Welker asked Breyer, “How disruptive was the leak to the court and to the relationships that you described?”
“It’s unfortunate,” he declared, to which Welker followed up, “Were you angry?”
“You try to avoid getting angry or that — you try in the job — you try to remain as calm, reasonable and serious as possible,” he said.
“I think it was unfortunate,” he repeated.
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The host then asked Breyer if there was any “compromise” around allowing abortion at 15 weeks discussed among the justices ahead of the Dobbs decision.
“Well, you know as much about that as I do,” he said. “You saw what Chief Justice Roberts wrote, and when you see what is written – the normal situation is, before something is written in the conference, people in some form or other will discuss what they’re thinking of writing, not always and not identical. But there’s usually some discussion.”
Welker then asked if the former justice thought there was a hope for a compromise, to which he said, “I usually hope for compromise.”
Welker kept pressing, asking, “So you were hopeful for a compromise?”
“Oh, you want to put words in my mouth,” he said. “I’m careful what I say on this, because I say our interests are different. I don’t want to make news. I’ve written what I’ve thought.”
Breyer appeared on the network to promote his new book, “Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism,” in which he criticizes the conservative justices on the court for their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Breyer, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, served on the Supreme Court from 1994 to 2022.
