Roe v. Wade leak deals major blow to Supreme Court’s image

The leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion striking down Roe v. Wade is one of the most stunning breaches of secrecy in the court’s history, almost certain to sow distrust among the justices and further damage the court’s already tarnished reputation.

As Americans reckoned on Tuesday with the likelihood that the court in coming months would reject the constitutional right to abortion, a separate set of questions swirled over how this extraordinary window into the court’s notoriously opaque inner-workings was pried opened.

“It’s crazy,” said Steven D. Schwinn, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago Law School and longtime court watcher. “It’s hard to overstate how significant this is.”