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GEOFF BENNETT: It was
a political earthquake
last May when the draft
Supreme Court opinion

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overturning Roe v. Wade
was leaked almost two
months before the ruling

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was actually handed down.
Chief Justice John Roberts
launched an investigation.

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And today, as John Yang reports,
the court issued its report.

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JOHN YANG: Geoff, the
investigation has not
been able to identify the
leaker. No one confessed,

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and none of the available
evidence points to a culprit.

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The investigation,
which was reviewed by
former Homeland Security
secretary Michael Chertoff,

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did identify weaknesses in
the way the court handles
sensitive documents.

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Marcia Coyle is the "NewsHour"'s
Supreme Court analyst.

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Marcia, what did -- who
did the Supreme Court go
about investigating this?

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MARCIA COYLE: Well, as
you recall, John, the
investigation was assigned
to the court'S marshal.

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She's a former national security
lawyer for the Army and pretty

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much is an administrator
now in which she manages
the courts of security.

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The marshal undertook
the investigation. And
there were interviews
of 97 court employees,

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82 of whom actually had
access to electronic or hard
copies of the draft opinion.

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These employees were not only
interviewed, but they were asked
to agree to sworn affidavits

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about the statements they
made to investigators.
And, as you said, at the
at the end, they could

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not show by a preponderance of
evidence that any one person
was responsible for the leak.

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JOHN YANG: And the report
said that pandemic may have
actually played a role in this.

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MARCIA COYLE: And that was
kind of interesting, John.

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The court said the pandemic
-- pandemic and the expansion
of the ability to work

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from home, along with
the gaps in the court's
own security measures,

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really increased the risk of
an inadvertent or deliberate
disclosure of the draft report.

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JOHN YANG: The report also
said that the - - they had
some broad recommendations

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about improving the way
the court handles secure
documents or documents
that shouldn't be leaked.

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And they said a lot of the
policies are outdated. Should
that surprise people that,

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in the 21st century, the Supreme
Court has outdated policies
on handling secure documents?

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MARCIA COYLE: I'm sure would
surprise many who aren't really
familiar with the court itself,

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but it doesn't surprise
those who follow the court.

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The court as an institution
is very slow to change. And I
think that is largely the reason

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why. I mean, we're still
hearing arguments over
whether there should be
cameras in the courtroom.

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And it was only because of the
pandemic that the court began to
livestream audio of arguments.

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So, again, it's an
institution that changes
incrementally. And so, no,

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I don't think those who know the
court would be that surprised.

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JOHN YANG: You know the court
very well. You have watched
the court and these justices.

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The one thing that report
did not talk about is
the effect that the leak
had on the operations

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of the court, of the dealings
between the justices. Are
you seeing any long-term

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effects of that in the way the
court, the justices operate
and deal with each other?

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MARCIA COYLE: In terms of the
leak, I think that it's hard to
say that I see anything visibly.

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I mean, we know that,
last summer, some of the
justices made comments
about the impact of the

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leak. Justice Thomas, for
example, said it was the sort of
thing that makes you always want

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to look over your shoulder.
Justice Alito talked about
how it led to threats
on justices' lives.

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I think, overall, that it
definitely affected the
interpersonal relationships
within the court,

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not just among the justices
and their clerks, but even
the people who work there,

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especially after being
investigated for this.

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And that -- I think it's
unfortunate, John, that
the court -- that the
investigation did not find

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someone to hold responsible
for this, because it
continues a shadow over
the court. There were a

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number of people who believed
first that we might never
hear about the results,
that the court would

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never do what it did
today, which was issue a
report, and they should
get credit for doing that.

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But, also, people felt that it
might have been somebody -- it
might have been a justice or the

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spouse of a justice who
did this. And without
holding someone responsible,
that suspicion is

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going to continue. And I
think as well it will continue
to affect the interpersonal

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relationships, perhaps
not as much as they were
affected last term, when
things were still so raw.

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The court gets its work
done and the justices
work together. But I think

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it can't help but
continue to cast a shadow
over the institution,
at a time when there

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are many shadows over many
institutions in our government.
And that's unfortunate.

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JOHN YANG: "NewsHour"
Supreme Court analyst Marcia
Coyle, thank you very much.

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My pleasure, John.