Possible Identification of the SCOTUS Leaker (Via Twitter)

Twitter feed of Will Chamberlain ^ | May 3, 2022 | Will Chamberlain

[Yo-Yo]

[Yo-Yo Note: This is a compilation of several Twitter threads by Will Chamberlain. I have created links to the images that he originally had in his posts. I didn't put the actual images into this post because it made Will's naration too hard to follow. Just click on the links to see the images that he is revering to in each segment.]

https://twitter.com/willchamberlain/status/1521685968939630592

Thread

Will Chamberlain
@willchamberlain

Meet Elizabeth Deutsch. She's currently a law clerk for Justice Breyer.

And, in my humble opinion, she's the most likely person to have leaked the draft Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs, purporting to overturn Roe v. Wade.

But first, a disclaimer:

I have no inside information. This thread is speculation, based almost entirely on publicly available information. I could easily be wrong.

Cool? Cool.

Her academic background isn't that uncommon for Supreme Court clerks. Yale undergrad, Yale law, and 2 British Master's degrees, from LSE and Cambridge.

Do note the Master's degree in Gender.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4UObCXEAEsFMS?format=jpg&name=small

Here's where things start to get interesting. Every law student has to write a note - a long legal research paper, usually making a novel argument about the law.

Elizabeth Deutsch wrote hers about reproductive rights and abortion.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4UWLsXwAAORGn?format=jpg&name=small

Specifically, she argued that Obamacare's non-discrimination provision should be interpreted to *force* Catholic hospitals to perform "emergency abortions."

Aggressive argument - and hey, law students make aggressive arguments.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4c3mTX0AE-9Jm?format=png&name=360x360
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4c3oIXIAA6vVr?format=png&name=900x900
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4c3olXMAELj0P?format=png&name=900x900
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4c3pzXwAAALJF?format=png&name=900x900

While in law school she wrote a NYT op-ed about reproductive rights. Sensing a theme here.

Her career page on LinkedIn doesn't reveal that much...until we start digging a little further.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4UfwUXwAE28w4?format=jpg&name=small

First, thanks to her NYT wedding announcement (of course), we know that she clerked for judge Nina Pillard.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4Y4GMXMAIDmD4?format=jpg&name=360x360

Pillard was one of the DC Circuit judges appointed by Obama and forced through by Harry Reid blowing up the filibuster.

She's stridently pro-choice. Perhaps not shocking.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4U_L2XwAEiNqf?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4U_neXEAAXMGR?format=png&name=medium

After her clerkships, she got a Gruber fellowship at the ACLU for a full year.

What was she working on?

You guessed it. Abortion and reproductive rights.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4bSDoWUAIj2-G?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4bSEbXEAAJVbG?format=jpg&name=large

But none of this proves anything. Yes, Deutsch's career seems pretty focused on abortion. But without some connection to Josh Gerstein (the journalist who received the leak opinion) there would be no reason to suspect her.

Let's go back to that NYT wedding announcement.

"The bride and groom met at Yale. She is a lawyer. He is a journalist.

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1521547376321712129/vvoRaWyL?format=jpg&name=small

Isaac Arnsdorf just got hired by the Washington Post as a national political reporter. (Of course he's on the Trump beat).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4ZOS8XwAEkYyt?format=jpg&name=small

But where has he written in the past?

Oh, look. He wrote for POLITICO.

SHARING A BYLINE WITH JOSH GERSTEIN.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4dSRDWYAQYUj3?format=png&name=900x900
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4dSSFX0AAznTj?format=png&name=900x900

Looks like Gerstein and they are still bros - chatting on Twitter, interacting as recently as last year.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4dSk9XMAEdV4W?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4dSl_WYAAoMGB?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4dSm7XEAQkUFZ?format=jpg&name=medium

So, to conclude:

We have a currently-serving Supreme Court law clerk whose career has been almost solely focused on abortion.

She wrote her law school note on abortion.
She wrote op-eds about reproductive rights.
She spent a year working on abortion for the ACLU.

She clerked for a stridently pro-choice appellate judge.

And it just so happens that her husband is a journalist, who shared bylines with Josh Gerstein at Politico, and it looks like they are still buds.

I don't know that Elizabeth Deutsch leaked the draft opinion.

But I certainly think someone who has spent much of their academic and professional life fighting to expand the right to get an abortion could be desperate enough to do so.

FIN

[EEGator]

You can’t disbar someone that isn’t a lawyer.

[EEGator]

Clerks are not lawyers.

[Krosan]

All Supreme Court clerks are lawyers and almost exclusively from the Ivies.

[rktman]

Maybe this POS:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4060032/posts

[Krosan]

“will soon get rich from the speaking fees and book deals”

A lot of competition in that circle already. They’d have to push some existing player out and Ivy law-nerds don’t have the charisma for that.

[Reno89519]

Earlier in the week someone was speculating on a Justice Sotomayor clerk. Well, speculate away, I hope the culprit is found before the end of the coming weekend. Personally, they should lock up all of the 46-odd people that had access to the draft and let them talk and solve the problem of who leaked it. Can they lie-detector test them very focused to see?

[KC Burke]

I believe the “clerks” for Supreme Court Justices are indeed generally young attorneys.

[G Larry]

Guilty!

[drSteve78]

Eric Ciaramella was unavailable for comment.

[EEGator]

You’re correct, I was wrong.
I can’t tell from reading if they have passed the Bar or not, as it states they’re typically recent Law School grads.

I could have sworn I read the opposite the day after the leaked memo...

[Reno89519]

I think this goes beyond the pale and should rightfully bother all justices and party hacks that their private deliberations are exposed. What if next it is Sotomayor's deliberations revealed, maybe showing overt bias and bigotry trumping legal reasoning? It will only confirm what we already know, but putting it on public display would be damaging, maybe lead to calls for her to recuse herself or resign.

Someone violated the trust they were given, they need to be found and held fully accountable. Otherwise, they system and trust fail and we will see repeats.

[drSteve78]

Clerks are not lawyers.

Clerks are not PRACTICING lawyers, perhaps, but absolutely are lawyers.

[EEGator]

You’re correct.
I looked up SCOTUS “internship”, not “clerk” the other day.

Internship:
Applicants must be U.S. Citizens.

Applicants must have completed two semesters of undergraduate study and meet one of the following criteria:
Actively enrolled in an academic program concurrent with the internship term;
Returning to a degree program immediately following the internship term; or
Participating in a federal fellowship program.

Law students are not eligible to participate in the Supreme Court Internship Program.

Preference will be given to applicants prepared to work eight-hour days, five days per week. Some offices may accept interns available less than full time but at least four days per week.

Interns selected for the fall and spring terms should plan to work for 16 weeks. Summer interns are expected to work for at least 12 weeks.

[EEGator]

I looked up internship, not clerks the other day.

[EEGator]

Her LinkedIn is gone now.

[nascarnation]

Now she’s LinkedOut....

[Dilbert San Diego]

Well, if her LinkedIn is gone, that’s suspicious.

Let’s see where the investigation goes.

[Nifty]

What is the “Democracy Team? its in the announcement.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR4ZOS8XwAEkYyt?format=jpg&name=small

[EEGator]

It’s suspicious, but you can send messages on LinkedIn.
I have a feeling she got a lot of messages.
She should take off for a while, and not be at her place...