US supreme court justices used personal emails for work, report says

A CNN report Saturday quoted multiple anonymous sources who said justices often use personal email accounts to send sensitive materials, despite the court having secure servers meant to handle such correspondences. Some court employees were nervous about confronting justices about using personal emails rather than the more secure method, the CNN report said.

The employees confirmed there have been other broader security concerns around the court for a while, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic saw many employees working from home.

The court has been conducting its own investigation into the leak of the Dobbs draft. Last month, it released a 23-page report as a follow-up into the investigation.

The report noted that the draft opinion was sent around on 10 February of last year to 70 law clerks and permanent court employees. About a month later, eight more employees were emailed the draft. Later, the investigators found two other employees who accessed the draft. Hard drafts were also distributed to some chambers. Thirty-four employees confirmed printing out copies while four said they were unsure. Several said they printed out more than one copy.

One flaw mentioned in the report is that printers at the court are not able to properly log all printing jobs, making it harder for the court to track when sensitive material is being printed. Some employees also have VPN access that allows them to print documents from any computer without being tracked.