IS THIS HOW THE LEAK PROBE WILL BE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG?

I believe that a right-winger leaked Samuel Alito's draft abortion decision, so I've been wondering how the leaker will get away with it -- I always assume that right-wingers get away with their transgressions -- given the fact that Chief Justice John Roberts has announced an investigation into the leak.

Because right-wingers and the press are so worked up over the leak, I've been expecting an exhaustive search for the culprit. But maybe that's a naive assumption. According to Michael Isikoff, it's quite possible that the probe won't be thorough at all.

One of the two Politico reporters who obtained the Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade questions whether Chief Justice John Roberts has the legal authority to order his fellow justices and their clerks to cooperate in an internal investigation into who leaked the document.

“It’s not clear he has the right to order anybody to cooperate,” said Josh Gerstein, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico and lead author of last week’s bombshell story, in an interview on the Yahoo News “Skullduggery” podcast.

... Gerstein pointed to what could turn into formidable legal obstacles that might thwart the probe.

“If one justice were to hypothetically say, ‘My clerks are not going to be interviewed. I’m not going to be interviewed. We’ll see you later,’ it’s not clear to me [Roberts] can tell them, ‘I’m sorry, Justice blank, you have to do this.’ Under what authority?”

That's not the kind of conversation I imagine -- I'm thinking more along the lines of "Surely you don't imagine that any of my fine clerks would do something like this, do you, John?" It would be Republican gentlemen (and one lady) expecting to be trusted by a Repubican gentleman.

And that would be that. So yes, if Gerstein is right, I think this will remain an unsolved mystery.