The Supreme Court staff officer who ran the internal investigation of the leak of the draft abortion opinion moved on Friday to head off speculation that one or more of the Justices released that document.

Gail A. Curley, who is the Court’s Marshal, said she spoke “with each of the Justices, several on multiple occasions,” and followed up on all leads. Her inquiries, she said in a statement, led her to conclude that none of the Justices or their spouses was “implicated.”

Since the draft majority opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center case was published without permission last year, there has been widespread speculation – among journalists, policy activists and politicians – that one or more of the Justices had some role in the leak.

That speculation rose on Thursday when Marshal Curley’s formal report of the investigation left the impression that the Justices themselves may not have been asked about the incident. The brief new statement Friday apparently was issued, at least partly, in response to questions from reporters about that.

Here is the statement on Friday, in full:

“During the course of the investigation, I spoke with each of the Justices, several on multiple occasions. The Justices actively cooperated in this iterative process, asking questions and answering mine. I followed up on all credible leads, none of which implicated the Justices or their spouses. On this basis, I did not believe that it was necessary to ask the Justices to sign sworn affidavits.”