How the Supreme Court Has Kept Its PPACA Decision a Secret

As the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Justices — and dozens of clerks — have known the Court’s final decision for several months, since shortly after the Court heard oral arguments in March.

No one in the know has shared this inside knowledge; clerks are warned from the day they begin not to reveal anything about their work, according to a Detroit Free Press report. But, what keeps them from leaking information?

Clerks, who research and collaborate in writing Justices’ decisions, would be out of a job and, worse, ostracized in the legal profession for gossiping outside the walls of the Court, according to the report.

The last time a Supreme Court decision leaked was in the 1980s under Chief Justice Warren Burger, who left the court in 1986.

In short, the Court values secrecy in the weeks, days and moments leading up to when rulings are made public. The Court is expected to reveal a final decision on the PPACA in the next several days.

How the Supreme Court Has Kept Its PPACA Decision a Secret

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