‘It Was A Fanatical Law Clerk On The Right’: Joe Scarborough Claims Without Any Evidence Conservative Clerk Leaked Draft Opinion

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough claimed Wednesday it was likely a conservative Supreme Court clerk that leaked the draft decision which would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Scarborough played a clip from Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in which Cruz said it was “ludicrous” to suggest a conservative leaked the draft opinion.

“I do agree with Ted, Sen. Cruz, that it was leaked by someone unhappy in the direction the court was going, but the question is which person was moving and what direction were they moving?” Scarborough said. “The right-wing noise machine always turns into overdrive, always.”

Scarborough referenced a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that alleged it was a liberal clerk who leaked the draft purposely ahead of the midterms.

“What a plodding, nonsensical argument on so many levels,” Scarborough said. He then alleged Republicans are hypocrites for claiming it was a liberal clerk who doesn’t respect the court but yet support Justice Clarence Thomas, who Scarborough claimed is “involved in cases that directly impact his wife.”

“The plodding argument that Alito’s majority had no reason to leak the court’s decision assumes it was still the majority,” Scarborough added. “Three months after it was written in February!” (RELATED: Rep. Jayapal Claims SCOTUS Doesn’t ‘Have The Right’ To Alter Policy)

“It’s more likely that somebody on the hard right was really pissed off that a Justice moved away from Alito’s really harsh right-wing diatribe on abortion. And instead, moved more towards Roberts’ way,” Scarborough continued. “It’s a classic, ‘hey, we’ve got the receipts, buddy. We’ve got — don’t even think about moving away from Alito and taking a more nuanced path. Because we have the receipts.'”

Scarborough then said perhaps that’s why Chief Justice John Roberts’ condemnation letter said the draft opinion does not represent the final position of the court.

“You know to me, I could be wrong, maybe Ted is right, maybe I’m wrong. But if you are just looking at this in the most Machiavellian way possible, it makes far more sense it was a fanatical law clerk on the right who leaked a document to stop one of the conservative members of the court from moving away from Alito’s position and closer to Roberts’ more nuanced path towards a destination.”

Fellow MSNBC host Chris Hayes made a similar claim Tuesday, alleging it may have been a conservative clerk who leaked the draft despite admitting he had no evidence to back up the claim.

Politico released a draft opinion Monday night showing the high court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.