The Supreme Court responded today to a couple of Democrats who were ‘concerned’ about allegations that Justice Alito leaked the Hobby Lobby decision in 2014 before the decision was announced.
Representative Hank ‘tip of Guam’ Johnson and Senator Sheldon ‘dark money conspiracy theorist’ Whitehouse both sent a letter to the Supreme Court before Thanksgiving about these alleglations which Alito himself had denied.
Here’s a short summary of the allegaions via The Blaze:
On Saturday, the New York Times published a letter written to Chief Justice John Roberts in July in which Rev. Rob Schenck claims he knew the outcome of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. before the court announced its ruling in the 2014 case.
The case is significant because it held that religious organizations can deny coverage for some contraceptives, in violation of Obamacare.
Schenck, whom Politico described as “once an evangelical minister and prominent anti-abortion activist” who “has since become disillusioned with the religious right,” claimed in his letter that a donor to his organization, Gayle Wright, told him after having dinner with the Alitos that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of Hobby Lobby.
Several weeks later, the court ruled in Hobby Lobby’s favor — and Alito wrote the majority opinion.
The Surpreme Court responded to this letter today pointing out that even news organizations trying to corroborate the allegations by Mr. Schneck have been unsucessful.
They write that “there is nothing to suggest that Justice Alito’s actions violated ethics standards.”
Alito has been under attack since the Hobbs decision earlier this year and I’ve no doubt that this accusation from Schneck is part of an effort to smear the justice and even harm his reputation.
Thankfully the Supreme Court isn’t taking it seriously, especially coming from nuts like Johnson and Whitehouse.