SUPREME COURT LEAK – OVERNIGHT:  It's sickening. The president of the United States is refusing to denounce the Supreme Court leaker, who, for the first time in American history, leaked the draft of an upcoming Court opinion.  Nor has any prominent member of the Democratic Party denounced this betrayal of trust.  From reliable pundit Michael Goodwin of the New York Post:

Political surprises generally come in October. This one came in May, in the middle of the night no less.

The shocking leak of the Supreme Court draft decision that overturns the constitutional right to abortion is already achieving its main objective. It is giving Democrats something to run on this fall besides Joe Biden’s lousy record. 

Never mind that the leak was a dirty trick that is probably a crime, with Chief Justice John Roberts calling it a “betrayal,” and ordering an investigation. GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell called it an attack on the Court’s independence, saying it is “yet another escalation in the radical left’s ongoing campaign to bully and intimidate federal judges and substitute mob rule for the rule of law.” 

The widely respected SCOTUSblog writes that “This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin” and will destroy trust among the justices and the staff. 

All true — but you’re not likely to see a single Dem denounce the leak or the leaker. Quite the opposite. Desperate times lead to desperate actions and, without batting an eye, they embraced the draft’s contents as an opportunity to rally their dejected supporters around a new flag.

Forget inflation, open borders, the murderous crime surge, Ukraine — look over here at this shiny new object. And get mad as hell.

Even President Biden roused himself to appear before reporters and, although much of what he said was half-sentence-gibberish, he did manage to say clearly the leaked draft “goes way overboard” in demolishing Roe v. Wade.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had a bounce in his step as he vowed to force the Senate to vote on turning the gist of Roe into federal law. “We will vote to protect a woman’s right to choose, and every American is going to see which side every senator stands on,”

Schumer said, then added that the “rights of one hundred million women are now on the ballot.”

There he goes, exaggerating again. Many women oppose abortion, and Schumer probably can’t get a majority of senators, let alone 60 votes needed to break the filibuster, to support his plan. 

COMMENT:  The refusal to condemn leak and leaker will come back to haunt the Democrats.  It will remind voters of how extreme the Democratic Party has become.  It will remind them of the party's indifference to crime, and its contempt for victims. When the leak was first announced, Democrats were jubilant, believing they had been given a chance to energize their base in November.  I suspect there'll be some second guessing on that judgment. Yes, some pro-choicers will probably become more involved in the political battles.  But other citizens, including many women, may well be repelled by the cheap politicization and exploitation of a serious issue.

Some Washington sources believe the investigation will take only a few weeks, and will yield results. I hope so.

May 3, 2022