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The KBJ Delay in Callais

Who is at fault for the rush to judgment in Louisiana?

Josh Blackman | 5.5.2026 7:06 PM

One of the most explosive claims from Molly Hemmingway's new books concerns Dobbs. As we all recall, after the leak of the Dobbs draft on May 2, 2022, it became apparent that the Justices would face serious security threats. Indeed, a deranged liberal traveled from California to D.C. with weapons and made it to the threshold of Justice Kavanaugh's home. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it?) Yet, after all this happened, the Dobbs opinion was not released early. The Court held onto it until June 24. There was no obvious effort to expedite the release of the opinion. And all told, there were few changes made between the leaked draft and the final published opinion. At the time, some speculated that there might be changes to the opinion. Or perhaps the majority flipped. Yet, the five held strong. What then was the holdup?

Hemmingway reports that Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Breyer refused to expedite the release of the opinion. (This vignette comes after the leak but before the assassination attempt):

On Thursday, May 12, the justices gathered in conference to go through the circulating opinions and set the dates for their release. Justices grade the decisions based on when........

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