Trust' at the Supreme Court? The court's self-destruction continues.
The leak last month of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito’s stunning draft opinion eviscerating decades of precedent on abortion and the right to privacy revealed the magnitude of the court’s descent into radical partisanship. Now, we have more evidence from inside sources that the court is coming apart at the seams and further eroding its stature with Americans.
According to a CNN report, the court’s leak investigators are “taking steps to require law clerks to provide cell phone records and sign affidavits.” Understandably, “some clerks are apparently so alarmed over the moves, particularly the sudden requests for private cell data, that they have begun exploring whether to hire outside counsel.”
That answer should be yes. Clerks should absolutely hire counsel to advise them about their rights and recourse if they refuse to provide the requested information. And while the court is not, so far as we know, conducting a criminal investigation, the demand that clerks sign a statement under penalty of perjury can put them at risk if they are anything less than 100 percent truthful.
While the court is entitled to “examine any government-owned cell phones or e-mail accounts,” prominent whistleblower attorney Mark S. Zaid tells me, “there would be no legal right (absent a warrant) that would … compel a clerk to turn over any personally owned information.” Zaid recommends that “as many clerks and staff as possible decline as a group to turn over their personal data,” to create "safety in numbers.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/01/supreme-court-investigation-clerks-cellphones/
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