US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has canceled an upcoming speaking appearance at the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals' judicial conference, a gathering of New Orleans-based federal appeals court judges and District Court judges from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
The matter was reported by Reuters and confirmed by Patricia McCabe, a spokesperson for the high court.
“We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public’s reaction to our work,” Alito wrote in his draft opinion leaked earlier this week.
The leak of Alito’s majority opinion draft has spurred a number of questions, ranging from the upcoming midterm elections to the possible undoing of women’s autonomy.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document and announced that he has directed the marshal of the court to launch a probe “into the source of the leak.”
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed,” Roberts said in a statement obtained by Politico. “The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.”
A final ruling on the matter is expected to be finalized either by late June or early July.