Politico’s Monday night scoop that the Supreme Court has voted to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was a history-altering bombshell based on something nearly unprecedented in the high court’s modern era — a leak of a draft opinion.

While Washington reporters have long relied on leaks from other government officials, the Supreme Court has been a temple of secrecy, the decisions of its nine justices shrouded in mystery until they are formally announced to the public — which in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was not expected for several more weeks.