Former AG Bill Barr 'appalled' by White House response to Supreme Court doxxing

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Protests of Supreme Court justices may flout US code

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Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr was adamant that the person who leaked a drafted opinion on abortion from the Supreme Court should be behind bars.

The leaked draft opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which was published by Politico last week and later confirmed by Chief Justice John Roberts, revealed Justice Samuel Alito had written that the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling must be overruled to "return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives." Roberts noted that it did not, however, represent the current or final opinion of the court. 

Barr called the leak a serious breach of the judicial process that demands just as serious consequences.

"Well, confidentiality is critical to the functioning of the judiciary," Barr said on "The Guy Benson Show" Friday. "They need to be able to have, you know, discourse within the court in deciding the case and make sure that it’s kept confidential until an opinion comes out. And so this was an obstruction of the judicial process. It was an interference in the due administration of justice. 

A crowd of people gather outside the Supreme Court, Monday night, May 2, 2022 in Washington following reports of a leaked draft opinion by the court overturning Roe v. Wade.  (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

"So I think that it’s a crime that was done. It appears to have been done," he continued. "And I think eventually it will be shown to have been done in order to derail the opinion and upset the deliberations of the court. And so I think ultimately it belongs in the criminal justice side of things. And the person who did this should go to jail. Now, there could be some preliminary review of this thing to see if they can figure out quickly who it is and then turn it over to the Department of Justice for prosecution."

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Barr noted there are few people who could have been behind the leak. And as such, authorities "should be able to narrow it down fairly quickly."

The bombshell leak has prompted protests at the Supreme Court for the past several days, with one progressive group taking their fury a step further.

The liberal group "Ruth Sent Us" published a map containing the supposed home addresses of Justices Amy Coney Barrett, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, following the leak. When asked about the doxxing at a recent White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki notably did not overtly condemn the action, saying that while the privacy of people should be "respected," there was a lot of "passion" and "fear" among Americans after the leak, and that the protests should remain peaceful.

Attorney General William Barr speaks during a news conference, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020 at the Justice Department in Washington. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP) (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP)

"Well, I was appalled that they didn’t just come out and condemn this," Barr said of the Biden administration. "It really to me to, you know, to allow the doxxing of Supreme Court justices. And as she says, ‘there’s a lot of passion.’ As you say, it was obviously done precisely to intimidate them, and it does expose them to additional threats."

But Barr said it was becoming a pattern on the left.

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"The left has been tolerant of violence for some time now," he said, referencing the many attacks on Donald Trump supporters throughout former presidential campaigns, as well as the violence that marked the summer of 2020. Progressives, he said, did not condemn either.

"It's becoming increasingly shameless," Barr added.

Protestors gather outside the Supreme Court to protest abortion rights (Fox News Digital)

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Both Barr and Benson wondered if President Biden, who is Catholic, will "draw the line" and condemn activists should they decide to follow through on their threats to picket outside of Catholic churches on Mother's' Day Sunday, as an apparent attempt to target the religion of some of the Supreme Court justices.