Liam Barrett , freelance politics and culture writer
On 5/25/22 at 8:00 AM EDT
The late congressman and civil rights pioneer John Lewis was renowned for his wise words that spanned an inspiring career. During the 2019 impeachment trial of Donald Trump, Lewis appealed for clarity and justice when he remarked; “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something.” With the recently leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that aims to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Watergate scandal that plagued the Nixon administration, Lewis’ words still hold relevance across a toxic political landscape.
The leaking of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito‘s draft opinion on reversing a federal abortion ruling and allowing elected representatives to decide abortion rights represents a cataclysmic shift in U.S. society. Speculation abounds as to whether the whistleblower was a disgruntled law clerk working for a liberal justice, or one from the conservative majority as a foreshadow of what’s ahead. A recent poll found that fewer than a third of Americans say they are in favor of reversing Roe v. Wade. It is clear prohibiting abortion is unpopular in the U.S., despite how some pro-life Republicans manipulate statistics by attempting to debase the whistleblower that leaked the draft ruling.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) blamed the leak on the left and the “unprecedented breach of confidentiality” that they used to intimidate the highest court. Meanwhile his colleague, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), likened it to a form of harassment toward the justices. This same tactic being deployed by the right was featured throughout the first impeachment trial of the disgraced former president. It’s a craven act to expose the whistleblower to avoid the issue at hand, no matter if the issue in question is a vital matter of public interest.
The art of leaking, as recent events suggest, are integral to upholding American values when the upper echelons of power seek to denigrate them. The story of Martha Mitchell, the wife of Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell, is a case in point to why whistleblowing must be protected under American law at all costs. Her story is being recounted via a Starz miniseries that pays tribute to her whistleblowing efforts and pours scorn on those who treated her with contempt.
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