Thomas says Supreme Court after leaked draft opinion is 'not the court' of Ginsburg's era

Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday expressed dismay at the recent leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade, comparing it to "an infidelity" and saying it has changed the culture of the nation's highest court.

"The institution that I'm a part of, if someone said that one line of one opinion would be leaked by anyone, you'd say, 'Oh, that's impossible. No one would ever do that.' There is such a belief in the rule of law, a belief in the court, a belief in what we were doing that that was verboten," Thomas said. "It was beyond anyone's understanding, or at least anyone's imagination, that someone would do that."

The comments from the 73-year-old justice were delivered at an "Old Parkland Conference" event sponsored by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute in Dallas. The remarks echoed those he had made earlier this month in Atlanta, when he said government institutions shouldn't be "bullied" into delivering what some see as the preferred outcome.