When investigating a crime, it is always a good idea to ask, “Who benefits from this crime?” I’m not sure if the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s initial draft majority opinion on overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey would qualify as a crime, but the person who stands to benefit the most from the leak is none other than…. Justice Samuel Alito! bum bum bummmm!
Yes, while conservative media returns to its favorite (and predictable) chorus of “leftists did it!”, Justice Alito is sitting in the shadows laughing evilly and clutching his hands together evilly. The leak establishes an extreme starting point for the conversation (i.e., it helps to normalize that position), puts pressure on the other conservative justices to comply with it by letting the public in on it, and distracts from the opinion itself by occupying everyone with the fact that something was leaked from the Supreme Court (oh, look! I am participating in the distraction).
The leak doesn’t just mention abortion. It also alludes to prior court decisions on “sodomy” (Lawrence v. Texas), “gay” marriage (Oberfell), and “interracial” marriage. The villain — Alito — says that these decisions did not protect “rights” that are “deeply rooted in history”. How is taking away someone’s right to bodily autonomy (and denying their religious beliefs along the way) a protection of rights? How is taking away someone’s right to marry who they want a protection of rights? How is regulating human sexual behavior (including both sexual practices and using contraception) a protection of rights? All these things are about allowing conservatives the “right” to dominate others and make them comply with conservative culture.
More than just being an effective strategy, Alito’s leak fits the standard fascist pattern (yes, Alito is a fascist) of announcing your intended actions in the context of explaining the fucked-up fantasy that justifies them (in this case, “rights deeply rooted in history”). The Nazis didn’t just say, “Let’s kill the Jews.” Rather, they went on and on about their Jewish conspiracy theory, and didn’t move on to killing them until enough people believed that the fantasy was real — making an unthinkable action seem obvious, even inevitable.
It is very likely that the person who leaked the draft opinion was someone who wanted to soften up the opposition by defining the context of the fight before it begins, and the most likely person to have done it is Alito. Sure, he probably only facilitated the leak, but this helps him get what he wants and may set him up to become Chief Justice under the next Republican President. He should be the number one suspect, and he certainly is the villain of this story.
Sure, it could have been someone who simply thought the public needed to know what the Supreme Court is up to (in this case, villainy), and I can’t help but agree with that, despite the fact of the leak functioning as a tool to advance fascism. Maybe they thought they could embarrass so-called “conservatives” into dropping the whole thing; that’s laughable. Regardless of who it was, though, it certainly was not a “leftist” — there are no leftists working at the Supreme Court.
Alito has just announced exactly what the left has been concerned about since Republicans refused to seat Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court — that conservatives would take over that branch of government, and then reveal that they were never “conservatives” in the first place, but rather fascists. With majority control of the Supreme Court, fascists are free to do whatever they want and it will be legal. Moreover, mainstream Democrats (like President Joe) will do absolutely nothing about it, just like they did nothing when Republicans failed to seat Garland. Sure, sure — they say they might end the filibuster, pack the court, impeach Justices who lied during their confirmation hearings, but will they actually do anything?
Biden has told people that they should vote, so there’s your answer — he will do nothing except promote voting Democrat so they can do nothing but promote voting Democrat.