Supreme Court clerks exploring whether to seek outside counsel amid Roe leak probe, report says

Clerks are now having to provide cell phone records and sign affidavits.

(Getty Images)

Many Supreme Court clerks have wondered whether they should seek outside counsel as the court has escalated its probe into who leaked a draft opinion showing that the court would likely overturn Roe v Wade, CNN reported.

“That's what similarly situated individuals would do in virtually any other government investigation,” one appellate lawyer with experience in these investigations who is familiar with the probe told CNN.

"It would be hypocritical for the Supreme Court to prevent its own employees from taking advantage of that fundamental legal protection.”

The court is reportedly requiring clerks to provide cell phone records and sign affidavits in regards to the opinion that leaked to Politico earlier this month, three sources told CNN.

In addition, Chief Justice John Roberts has reportedly met with the clerks but it is unclear whether he conducted a systematic interview.

Supreme Court clerks are often considered to be some of the most elite young legal minds in the country. Plenty of clerks are graduates of top law schools and are offered high salaries at prestigious law firms afterward. Many go on to become judges themselves.

Mr Roberts was himself a clerk on the Supreme Court for future Chief Justice William Rehnquist when he was an associate justice and Justice Amy Coney Barrett clerked for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

Mr Roberts ordered Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley, a former US Army Colonel, to lead the investigation the day after the leak of the draft opinion, which Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote.

The opinion is not the official opinion and as of right now, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that enshrined the right to seek an abortion remains intact.