1 00:00:02,033 --> 00:00:05,000 GEOFF BENNETT: It was a political earthquake last May when the draft Supreme Court opinion 2 00:00:06,633 --> 00:00:09,166 overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked almost two months before the ruling 3 00:00:09,166 --> 00:00:13,800 was actually handed down. Chief Justice John Roberts launched an investigation. 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,700 And today, as John Yang reports, the court issued its report. 5 00:00:17,700 --> 00:00:22,700 JOHN YANG: Geoff, the investigation has not been able to identify the leaker. No one confessed, 6 00:00:24,100 --> 00:00:26,700 and none of the available evidence points to a culprit. 7 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:31,700 The investigation, which was reviewed by former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, 8 00:00:33,700 --> 00:00:36,666 did identify weaknesses in the way the court handles sensitive documents. 9 00:00:36,666 --> 00:00:39,966 Marcia Coyle is the "NewsHour"'s Supreme Court analyst. 10 00:00:39,966 --> 00:00:43,866 Marcia, what did -- who did the Supreme Court go about investigating this? 11 00:00:43,866 --> 00:00:48,833 MARCIA COYLE: Well, as you recall, John, the investigation was assigned to the court'S marshal. 12 00:00:51,633 --> 00:00:56,300 She's a former national security lawyer for the Army and pretty 13 00:00:56,300 --> 00:01:01,266 much is an administrator now in which she manages the courts of security. 14 00:01:03,533 --> 00:01:08,533 The marshal undertook the investigation. And there were interviews of 97 court employees, 15 00:01:12,466 --> 00:01:17,466 82 of whom actually had access to electronic or hard copies of the draft opinion. 16 00:01:22,133 --> 00:01:27,133 These employees were not only interviewed, but they were asked to agree to sworn affidavits 17 00:01:29,633 --> 00:01:34,200 about the statements they made to investigators. And, as you said, at the at the end, they could 18 00:01:36,300 --> 00:01:41,300 not show by a preponderance of evidence that any one person was responsible for the leak. 19 00:01:43,233 --> 00:01:46,833 JOHN YANG: And the report said that pandemic may have actually played a role in this. 20 00:01:46,833 --> 00:01:49,400 MARCIA COYLE: And that was kind of interesting, John. 21 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:54,366 The court said the pandemic -- pandemic and the expansion of the ability to work 22 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,300 from home, along with the gaps in the court's own security measures, 23 00:02:02,233 --> 00:02:06,133 really increased the risk of an inadvertent or deliberate disclosure of the draft report. 24 00:02:09,100 --> 00:02:13,500 JOHN YANG: The report also said that the - - they had some broad recommendations 25 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:18,500 about improving the way the court handles secure documents or documents that shouldn't be leaked. 26 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,400 And they said a lot of the policies are outdated. Should that surprise people that, 27 00:02:28,366 --> 00:02:31,933 in the 21st century, the Supreme Court has outdated policies on handling secure documents? 28 00:02:33,933 --> 00:02:38,033 MARCIA COYLE: I'm sure would surprise many who aren't really familiar with the court itself, 29 00:02:39,433 --> 00:02:41,733 but it doesn't surprise those who follow the court. 30 00:02:41,733 --> 00:02:46,733 The court as an institution is very slow to change. And I think that is largely the reason 31 00:02:49,533 --> 00:02:54,500 why. I mean, we're still hearing arguments over whether there should be cameras in the courtroom. 32 00:02:54,500 --> 00:02:59,466 And it was only because of the pandemic that the court began to livestream audio of arguments. 33 00:03:01,433 --> 00:03:06,066 So, again, it's an institution that changes incrementally. And so, no, 34 00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:10,900 I don't think those who know the court would be that surprised. 35 00:03:10,900 --> 00:03:15,900 JOHN YANG: You know the court very well. You have watched the court and these justices. 36 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,966 The one thing that report did not talk about is the effect that the leak had on the operations 37 00:03:23,866 --> 00:03:28,200 of the court, of the dealings between the justices. Are you seeing any long-term 38 00:03:30,166 --> 00:03:34,100 effects of that in the way the court, the justices operate and deal with each other? 39 00:03:36,133 --> 00:03:39,366 MARCIA COYLE: In terms of the leak, I think that it's hard to say that I see anything visibly. 40 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:49,200 I mean, we know that, last summer, some of the justices made comments about the impact of the 41 00:03:51,166 --> 00:03:55,333 leak. Justice Thomas, for example, said it was the sort of thing that makes you always want 42 00:03:57,766 --> 00:04:01,100 to look over your shoulder. Justice Alito talked about how it led to threats on justices' lives. 43 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,000 I think, overall, that it definitely affected the interpersonal relationships within the court, 44 00:04:11,733 --> 00:04:16,733 not just among the justices and their clerks, but even the people who work there, 45 00:04:17,933 --> 00:04:21,333 especially after being investigated for this. 46 00:04:21,333 --> 00:04:26,333 And that -- I think it's unfortunate, John, that the court -- that the investigation did not find 47 00:04:28,733 --> 00:04:32,400 someone to hold responsible for this, because it continues a shadow over the court. There were a 48 00:04:35,866 --> 00:04:40,866 number of people who believed first that we might never hear about the results, that the court would 49 00:04:43,366 --> 00:04:46,666 never do what it did today, which was issue a report, and they should get credit for doing that. 50 00:04:46,666 --> 00:04:51,666 But, also, people felt that it might have been somebody -- it might have been a justice or the 51 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:01,200 spouse of a justice who did this. And without holding someone responsible, that suspicion is 52 00:05:03,133 --> 00:05:08,033 going to continue. And I think as well it will continue to affect the interpersonal 53 00:05:10,566 --> 00:05:14,533 relationships, perhaps not as much as they were affected last term, when things were still so raw. 54 00:05:16,966 --> 00:05:21,966 The court gets its work done and the justices work together. But I think 55 00:05:24,333 --> 00:05:28,866 it can't help but continue to cast a shadow over the institution, at a time when there 56 00:05:31,533 --> 00:05:35,866 are many shadows over many institutions in our government. And that's unfortunate. 57 00:05:35,866 --> 00:05:39,533 JOHN YANG: "NewsHour" Supreme Court analyst Marcia Coyle, thank you very much. 58 00:05:40,266 --> 00:05:41,600 My pleasure, John.