Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has pulled out of a scheduled public appearance following the leak of his draft opinion indicating that Roe v. Wade will be overturned.
Alito had been set to attend the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' judicial conference, which begins Thursday. A Supreme Court spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that Alito would not be at the conference.
Among Alito's high court tasks is reviewing emergency appeals from the 5th Circuit, which includes the New Orleans-based federal appeals court and district courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas were scheduled to speak at a conference for the 11th Circuit on Thursday and Friday, according to a program obtained by Reuters.
Newsmax reached out to the Supreme Court to find out whether Roberts and Thomas still planned to appear at the conference, and had not heard back.
Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft opinion in a Mississippi case that suggested the Supreme Court may be poised to strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. He ordered an investigation into what he called an "egregious breach of trust."
The chief justice added that the document did "not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case."
Politico first reported on the leaked opinion Monday night. The news triggered protests from pro-abortion groups, and energized pro-life supporters.
The draft opinion was described by Politico as an "unflinching repudiation" of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections for abortion rights in America, and of a 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that basically upheld the tenets of Roe.
"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start," Alito writes, according to the outlet.
The Washington Examiner reported late Wednesday night that a tall security fence had been erected around the Supreme Court amid security concerns.
In the leaked opinion, Alito said the justices could not allow public pressure to influence their decisions.
"We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public's reaction to our work," Alito wrote in the leaked draft, Politico reported.
"We do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today's decision overruling Roe and Casey."
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