SCOTUS: No One Is Safe, Whistleblower or Not

 "... for those inside the court, [Kel] McClanahan says there will likely be a more tangible backlash to the leak as a result of the intense scrutiny from the chief justice and political leaders. And the competing theories about the leaker [that it could be a liberal or a conservative] combined with the lack of clues will leave everyone vulnerable to an invasion of privacy and perhaps even legal jeopardy." - Harper Neidig, The Hill, May 7, 2022.

McClanahan is an adjunct law professor at George Washington University and specializes in whistleblower law. He recommends that everyone at the court, whether a whistleblower or not, lawyer up. All at the court will find it difficult to navigate the fallout from the leak without legal guidance. 

A cartoon could capture this situation. It would depict everyone from a clerk to a justice to Chief Justice John Roberts himself being grilled by thuggish looking authority figures under hot lights. 

What actually could play out is the classic phenomenon of a social system requiring a scapegoat. Any employee at the Court or a number of employees could wind up designated as that scapegoat. They could be pulled into a nightmare situation from which there may be no exit. The Court's brand and credibility are so vulnerable. Systems do whatever is necessary to preserve themselves.

Reflection: When I was a 1L at Harvard Law School I had a fantasy of winding up as a justice on SCOTUS. Unlike my classmates I had no desire to join Big Law and make the big bucks. The Court symbolized so much to me. Guess I was lucky that the fantasy didn't become reality. I could be under those hot lights. (Actually I had left law school to return to my career in communications. I had gone to law school in my 40s.)

Connect with Editor-in-Chief Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

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