Week In a Nutshell, 5/6/22

May 6, 2022 | Updated Feb 23 2023

Week In a Nutshell, 5/6/22

Anti-abortion and abortion rights demonstrators during a protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Here are some of the legal news stories making headlines this week:

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, and Roberts directed the Marshal of the Court to investigate the source of the leak.

On Monday, Politico published the draft opinion, which was written by Justice Samuel Alito. In it, Alito wrote that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start…[and] must be overturned.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives,” Alito continued. Preet Bharara and Joyce Vance discussed the opinion on this week’s episode of CAFE Insider.
Soon after, the Supreme Court issued a rare press release, in which Roberts said the leak was “authentic.” “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” Roberts continued.
Roberts also emphasized that the leaked opinion is not the Court’s final position. A final decision in the case, which stems from a dispute over a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, is expected this summer.

A New York state appellate court has rejected former President Donald Trump’s effort to suspend the contempt order and the $10,000 per day fine against him for failing to comply with a subpoena to provide documents to New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of her office’s investigation into Trump’s business dealings.

Last week, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge held Trump in contempt for disobeying an earlier court order that compelled Trump to comply with James’s subpoena. The judge imposed a fine of $10,000 per day until Trump satisfies the documents request. The daily fine went into effect on April 26th.
This week, Trump appealed the order. The New York Appellate Division court denied Trump’s request to freeze the contempt order and fine — keeping them in effect — without explanation.
James has been investigating Trump’s business dealings for over two years. The current dispute stems from a January subpoena in which James sought documents and testimony from Trump and two of his children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka Trump.

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