JUSTICES TO GATHER FOR FIRST TIME SINCE LEAK OF DRAFT

The Supreme Court’s nine justices will gather in private today for their first scheduled meeting since the leak of a draft opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade.

The meeting in the justices’ private, wood-paneled conference room could be a tense affair in a setting noted for its decorum. No one aside from the justices attends and the most junior among them, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is responsible for taking notes.

The conference comes at an especially fraught moment, with the future of abortion rights at stake and an investigation under way to try to find the source of the leak.

Chief Justice John Roberts last week confirmed the authenticity of the opinion, revealed by Politico, in ordering the court’s marshal to undertake an investigation.

Roberts stressed that the draft, written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated in February, may not be the court’s final word. Decisions are not final until they are formally issued and the outcomes in some cases changed between the justices’ initial votes shortly after arguments and the official announcement of the decisions.

It’s not clear who leaked the opinion, or for what purpose. But Alito’s writing means that there were at least five votes in December to overrule Roe, just after the court heard arguments over a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Several former clerks also said they expect the leak to be discussed at today’s meeting at which the justices typically finalize opinions in cases they’ve heard and choose cases to hear in the coming months. The spring normally is a tense time at the court, with major decisions looming that often reveal stark divisions and sometimes produce sharp words.

“I would be shocked if it doesn’t come up,” said Megan Wold, a former law clerk to Alito. She added that the court would probably take additional precautions with drafts circulating in the future, including limiting who has access to them.