Supreme Court faces new leak as inside info on Idaho abortion ruling is released

The Supreme Court, long known for its tradition of confidential negotiations between justices about the outcome of its cases and reputation of staying above the daily political fray, has suffered another leak related to an important case.

An in-depth report from CNN, based on information from unnamed sources with knowledge of the high court’s internal dynamics, describes how a rotating coalition of justices first approved a controversial decision on an in-progress case about Idaho’s near-total abortion ban, then nearly changed course entirely.

It’s the latest piece of internal information to make it out of the Washington court after the high-profile 2022 leak of the court’s draft ruling in the case where it would eventually overturn the constitutional right to an abortion, a seminal scandal in the court’s history.

The Independent has contacted the Supreme Court for comment.

The first major decision in the Idaho case, Moyle v United States, came in January when the Supreme Court decided to allow the state to enforce its near-total abortion ban.

That ban contains an exception to prevent the death of the pregnant person, despite an ongoing challenge from the Biden administration playing out in federal appeals court, which argued federal emergency room protections should preempt the state ban in certain emergency situations.

At the time, the court merely described its conclusion on the matter, but the CNN report reveals the justices voted 6 — 3 to approve this course of action, splitting on predictable lines between the six Republican-appointed justices and the three from liberal administrations.

By April, however, when oral arguments were held at the Supreme Court in the case, the majority seemed to have evaporated,