Politico broke the news that a Supreme Court draft opinion would end 50 years worth of abortion policy. This news event also placed the news agency in the middle one of the most contentious issues facing society.
Politico sent staff members a memo on Tuesday stating that it had restricted access and instructed security to be “extra vigilant about visitors”. Employees were also asked by Politico to remove their Politico affiliations on social media.
The company has not reported any specific threats.
However, the court’s apparent willingness to uphold the 1973 Roe V. Wade case which legalized abortion nationally led to widespread speculation about Politico’s sources.
The Federalist, a conservative website published a headline: “The SCOTUS abortion decision leak is what Actual Treasonous insurrection Looks like.” It stated that it believed the news was being leaked to force justices to change their votes.
Politico’s story was a thunderclap, posted Monday at 8:32 PM Eastern. It is rare for discussions within the Supreme Court to be made public. This is also unprecedented for a complete draft decision to be published.
Demonstrators quickly walked out of the court and cable news networks rearranged their schedules to cover this news.
Emily Kaplan, journalist, wrote that she gasped and then reflexively placed her hand over my mouth. “Haven’t done that since Election Night 2016.
Alexander Ward and Josh Gerstein wrote the story. They claimed that Roe had been eliminated as a precedent. It was linked to a draft decision that Justice Samuel Alito had written and circulated to the court on February 10, 2022, according to a stamp.
Politico stressed that it was a draft decision and could be changed. Politico stated that it received a draft opinion from “a person familiar with court proceedings” and “other details supporting its authenticity.”
This would limit the sources. Each of the nine justices of the court has four clerks, and an unknown number support staff. It wasn’t clear whether Politico had an electronically or hard copy decision.
Politico’s story was a thunderclap, posted Monday at 8:32 PM Eastern. It is rare for discussions within the Supreme Court to be made public. This is also unprecedented for a complete draft decision to see daylight — even less for one the most closely followed cases in years.
Demonstrators quickly walked out of the court and cable news networks rearranged their schedules to cover this news.
Emily Kaplan, journalist, wrote that she gasped and then reflexively placed her hand over my mouth. “Haven’t done that since Election Night 2016.
Alexander Ward and Josh Gerstein wrote the story. They claimed that Roe had been eliminated as a precedent. It was linked to a draft decision that Justice Samuel Alito had written and circulated to the court on February 10, 2022, according to a stamp.
Politico stressed that it was a draft decision and could be changed. Politico stated that it received a draft opinion from “a person familiar with court proceedings” and “other details supporting its authenticity.”
This would limit the sources. Each of the nine justices of the court has four clerks, and an unknown number support staff. It wasn’t clear whether Politico had an electronically or hard copy decision.
Even within Politico, the story was kept a secret. Few people knew it was coming. The Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski, and Executive Editor Dafna Lindzer were the top news executives at Politico. They sent a memo about the story to all of their staff.
The executives stated that they were confident about the draft’s authenticity after a thorough review. “This unprecedented look into the justice’s proceedings is clearly news of great public importance.”
Politico did not provide any details on how the document was determined to be real, nor how long the draft had been kept. According to Politico, “our journalism speaks for itself.”
Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court confirmed Tuesday that the draft was authentic. He announced an investigation into who had leaked it.
Kelly McBride, expert in journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute think-tank, stated that it is understandable that Politico would go to great lengths not to identify its source.
She said that while journalists may understand why the story is so important and why Politico published them, it might not be obvious to people unfamiliar with journalism and suspicious of their motives. Politico should have communicated some of this information with readers.
She said, “It’s going be such huge consequences that I don’t think it’s difficult to explain why it was done.”
Although Politico isn’t as well-known as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press (all of whom were chasing the story), it is a familiar brand name to those who closely follow Washington. It was founded in 2007 by Jim VandeHei and John Harris, former Washington Post journalists. Its “Playbook” newsletter, which is sent every morning at 7:00 AM, is an important agenda-setter for the elite of the country.
German publisher Axel Springer bought the expanding company last year for around $1 billion.
Frank Sesno, former CNN Washington bureau chief and Professor at George Washington University, said that “the fact they broke this story is distinguishing their journalism and their name appears all over it”
