US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Thursday called the leak of the Supreme Court’s highly anticipated abortion opinion “absolutely appalling.”

A leaked draft US Supreme Court opinion published Monday by POLITICO shows that the justices have voted to overturn the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade. The leak prompted large scale protests by abortion-rights activists outside the Supreme Court building and across the country.

“A leak of this stature is absolutely appalling . . . [I]f the person behind it thinks that it will affect our work, that’s just foolish,” Roberts told the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference meeting in Atlanta.

On Tuesday Roberts announced that the Marshal of the Court, Colonel Gail Curley, has been directed to investigate the source of the leak. The Marshal of the Court is the court’s chief security officer, facilities administrator, and contracting executive. Roberts also reaffirmed that this betrayal of the court’s confidence would not affect the court’s decision making. 

A press release by the Supreme Court verified that the leaked document is authentic with the caveat that “it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

The draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization upholds a Mississippi law that outlaws abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, thereby declaring that there is no constitutional right to abortion.