Moments after Politico published a draft opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. that would bring down Roe v. Wade, a first that upset the country, the publication’s top editors sent an email. to the newsroom.
“After an extensive review process, we are convinced of the authenticity of the concept,” wrote Matthew Kaminski, editor-in-chief of Politico and editor-in-chief Dafna Linzer. “This unprecedented look at the judges’ deliberations is clearly news of great public interest.”
The editors didn’t explain what that review process involved, or how the story’s lead reporters, Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward, came up with the concept. The article stated that the document had been provided by “a person familiar with the proceedings of the court”, and that the person had provided additional details to help authenticate the document, but did not say which they were.
Mr Kaminski declined to comment further.
“We’ll let our staff’s story and note speak for themselves,” he said.
News organizations around the world, including The New York Times and The Associated Press, quickly followed Politico’s coverage. In an interview with Mr. Gerstein on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Monday night, Ms. Maddow told Mr. Gerstein that he would “always in your entire life be the reporter who told this story.”
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court confirmed that the draft advice was authentic. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement that he had instructed the Marshal of the Court to investigate the leak, which he described as “a special and egregious breach” of trust.
While the views of individual judges are occasionally made public before the Supreme Court announces a decision, the leak of key draft advice is extremely rare, said Lucas A. Powe Jr., a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. and a former Supreme Court Clerk who has studied the Supreme Court for more than 50 years.
“Your loyalty is to your justice and to the court, and you just don’t leak stuff,” Mr Powe said of standard practice among Supreme Court officials.
Founded in 2007, the Arlington-based news publication Politico has reshaped Washington’s reporting for the past 15 years with its detailed coverage of all things politics. Urged on by co-founders Jim VandeHei and John Harris to “win the morning,” Politico Washington reporters and editors wrote high and low, devoting space in their influential email newsletters to presidential campaigns and more trivial details like birthdays of prominent figures. local figures.
Axel Springer, the Berlin-based publishing conglomerate, bought Politico from co-founder Robert Allbritton last year for more than $1 billion, as part of a plan to expand in the United States with a portfolio of titles including Insider and Morning Brew.
This year, Politico announced that Goli Sheikholeslami would become the new chief executive, replacing Patrick Steel, who left in 2021.
May 3, 2022
An earlier version of this article contained an error when the former chief of Politico resigned from his position. Patrick Steel left before the sale of Politico to Axel Springer, not after.
