Reverend Rob Schenck speaks during a news conference in front of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2019. Schenck testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on December 8, 2022 saying that he learned of a leak out of the US Supreme Court in 2014.
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Reverend Rob Schenck speaks during a news conference in front of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2019. Schenck testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on December 8, 2022 saying that he knew about a leak out of the US Supreme Court in 2014.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Right-wing Christian activists have sought to infiltrate the conservative social circle of US Supreme Court justices — offering prayers, meals, “warm personal greetings” and sometimes even travel — in an effort to “encourage” judges to advance their policy agenda, the former leader of an evangelical nonprofit told members of Congress on Thursday.
“During this ordeal, I had to scrutinize what my team and I did on the Supreme Court,” Rev. Rob Schenck testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “I believe we have crossed the line of Christian morality and compromised the supreme court’s promise of equal administration of justice.”
‘Invisible Missionaries’
Schenck, who until 2018 led a group then called Belief and Action, now describes himself as a “dissident Protestant”. He said he recruited and trained “stealth missionaries” for a project called Operation High Court.
They have worked to bolster the judges’ conservative views on issues including abortion and same-sex marriage, he said, sometimes achieving a rare degree of access and intimacy with judges.
“In one case, Justice [Clarence] Thomas complimented me, saying things like, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing; it’s making a difference,” Schenck told the committee.
Description of a leak from a few years ago
Immediately after unprecedented leak May of the milestone Dobbs Women’s Health Organization v. Jackson public opinion overturned Roe sues Wade, Schenck had given his own story about the possibility of the leak years earlier, which he described in a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts in June and in interviews with The New York Times.
Schenck said that in 2014, a donor to his organization had dinner at Judge Samuel Alito’s home. Later, Schenck said, the donor told him she knew that the decision in Burwell Hall v. Interests, a court case focused on religious freedom, would favor conservatives.
Schenck said the sponsor shared that information with him weeks before the decision was made public, and he used that information to prepare a response in advance. Alito wrote majority opinion in both case and Dobbs decided to have an abortion this summer.
Question from Republicans
Republican members of the Judiciary Committee, including Ohio ranking member Jim Jordan, expressed skepticism about Schenck’s story, which Jordan described as “an 8-year old rumor.”
Jordan noted that both the donor, Gayle Wright and Justice Alito had negative involved in the leak and questioned Schenck’s motives in continuing the story.
In recent years, Schenck has openly said that his political views have significant changes and he now protest what he called “extreme” restrictions on abortion.
The call for moral reform
The Dobbs leak prompted Speculation is rampant about who may be held responsible. Activists on each side of the abortion issue pointed the finger at those on the other side.
After the leak and Schenck’s allegations, House Democratic leaders are hoping to better understand the relationship between conservative activists and the courts. Some watchdog groups want to see the court pass a Ethical Rules for judges.
Chairman Jerry Nadler told his committee: “While this breach of trust is certainly a serious incident, made even more disturbing by the leak of Dobbs comments earlier this year, but it shouldn’t be the key takeaway from Rev’s story. Schenck”. “The spirit of the story is this – Supreme Court justices cannot effectively control their own morality. We shouldn’t expect them to.”
Democrats have proposed legislation that would impose a code of ethics on judges, but so far has not been able to pass it. Such proposals will likely face an even tougher battle in the newly divided Congress.
Proponents of the reform argue that judges must follow gift disclosure rules and clear criteria for withdrawing from cases that might affect family members or close associates. surname.
In addition to whatever action Congress may take, Judge Roberts also ordered internal investigation to the source of Dobbs leak in. It is unclear when that investigation will be completed or if the results will be made public.
