Supreme Court leak a classic DC whodunit
Latest disclosure may rank as one of the most significant in history
WASHINGTON — Washington loves a whodunit. And the latest one comes with the stunning plot twist of a leak from the famously buttoned-up Supreme Court.
The publication this past week of a draft opinion that said Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion in the United States, was wrong from the start and should be overruled, has set off sleuthing from every corner of the capital.
Who could possibly be behind such a glaring breach of trust? Why did that person choose to leak the draft? Why did that person choose a reporter from Politico? Who will investigate the matter? Will there be consequences? What will the court’s ultimate opinion say?
Washington, by nature, abhors a vacuum. So the two months before the court actually issues a final ruling will be filled with guesses, surmise, false starts — and maybe even the truth about who is behind the leak.
It’s an intrigue in the tradition of Watergate’s “Deep Throat” — one of Washington’s best-kept secrets for more than three decades; of Iran-Contra, with classified documents spirited out in a secretary’s undergarments; of “Primary Colors,” a roman à clef about a certain Southern governor.
The Trump era provided almost an entire genre. Among them: an unidentified whistleblower’s complaint about Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine and the writings of “Anonymous,” a senior administration official who only stayed anonymous for about two years after he wrote an opinion piece and subsequent book slamming the president.
The Supreme Court leak is “up there with the most important disclosures of this century and the last century — maybe ever,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the private Project on Government Oversight. “It ranks, certainly, with the Pentagon Papers and Wikileaks and Deep Throat.”
While leaks spout daily in gossipy Washington, the explosive revelation of a draft opinion that would overturn the 1973 decision creating a nationwide right to abortion has captivated the city.
The hunt for the high court leaker is afoot. Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered an investigation into what he called an “egregious breach of trust.” Amateur detectives have been eagerly trading theories on social media.
Is it even possible to keep this kind of secret in Washington anymore?
“Of course not,” said Eric Dezenhall, a crisis communications expert who has watched decades of leaks play out in the capital.
“Very few people who leak truly just keep it to themselves,” Dezenhall said. “There’s always a conversation that says, ‘You have to swear not to tell anybody this’ — and that’s the beginning of the end.”
He added that there’s often a psychic — and financial — incentive to make oneself known as a figure in history.
“The endgame is a book deal, a movie deal, being on TV,” he said.
Even when leakers are circumspect about their doings, there’s the dicey matter of digital footprints, which make it far easier for leak hunters to track down modern sources of information than it was in the past.
“The way some sources have been able to maintain their anonymity has been really impacted by the age of surveillance and technology tracking, so it’s possible that we will find out who it is,” said Brian, who laments a “reflexive instinct” within government to go after leakers and clamp down on information.
Big secrets in Washington have a way of eventually coming out, one way or another.
The identity of Deep Throat, the source who guided Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the Watergate investigation, wasn’t known until 2005, when a 91-year-old former FBI official, W. Mark Felt, revealed that he was the one who used to meet the reporters in an underground parking garage at 2 a.m. to share tips about how to unravel wrongdoing by President Richard Nixon and his allies. A Post editor had dubbed him “Deep Throat” after the 1972 porn movie of the same name.
The secret identities of many other leakers and whistleblowers have been shorter-lived.