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Report: Samuel Alito leaked 2014 Hobby Lobby decision to anti-abortion activists

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by gator_lawyer, Nov 20, 2022.

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  1. Nov 20, 2022 #1
    gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    This is quite significant:
    https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/19/for...leaked-another-landmark-case-report-says.html
    Following the monumental leak of the draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade in May, a former anti-abortion leader claims he was told the outcome of a 2014 case weeks before it was announced publicly, according to a report published on Saturday in The New York Times.

    Rev. Rob Schenck, who led an evangelical nonprofit in Washington, said he was informed ahead of time about the ruling of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, a landmark case involving contraception and religious rights, according to a letter he wrote to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
    * * *
    Schenck had “worked for years” to gain access to the court by trading favors and using his faith, he told the Times. And in 2014, two of Schenck’s “star donors,” Donald and Gayle Wright, ate a meal with Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann.

    The next day, the Times reported, one of the Wrights called Schenck and told him Alito had written the majority opinion, and that the case would be decided in favor of Hobby Lobby. Less than a month later, that exact decision was announced to the public.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Like Hobby Lobby, Alito authored Dobbs. Alito has denied the allegation:
    Justice Alito denies allegation of a leak in a 2014 case about access to birth control

    Of note, the couple (the Wrights) did not deny that they had dinner with Alito, and there are contemporaneous messages/emails that lend support to Schenck's allegation. That includes:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/19/alito-hobby-lobby-supreme-court-nyt/
    “The evidence for Mr. Schenck’s account of the breach has gaps,” the reporters wrote. “But in months of examining Mr. Schenck’s claims, the Times found a trail of contemporaneous emails and conversations that strongly suggested he knew the outcome and the author of the Hobby Lobby decision before it was made public.”

    Schenck provided an email from Wright, who along with her now-deceased husband, Donald, were major contributors to Schenck’s nonprofit. Schenck told the Times that when he learned the Wrights would be the dinner guests of Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann, in 2014, he asked Gayle Wright to learn what she could about the pending Hobby Lobby case.

    A day later, Gayle Wright wrote: “Rob, if you want some interesting news please call. No emails,” the Times reported.
    --------------------------------------
    Wright's explanation for her message is:
    Wright said she and her husband were introduced to the Alitos through the Wrights’ work for the Supreme Court Historical Society. The dinner was the first and only time the couples ate together at the Alito’s home, Wright said, recalling that she and her husband were thrilled about the invitation.

    She recalled being distraught when she became ill during the meal and had to abruptly depart. She later emailed Schenck, she said, and asked him to call so she could share “interesting news.” “I was so excited to tell him that Justice Alito had actually gotten in his car to take me home,” Wright said. “We wanted to talk to him and share it with him. … It was a story for us, and I think it would be for most normal people.”
     
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  2. Nov 20, 2022 #2
    Sohogator

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    I know when I’m up to no good the thing I make sure do is not email about it.
     
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  3. Nov 20, 2022 #3
    gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    Yeah, the whole "no emails" comment makes her story for why she reached out hard to believe.
     
  4. Nov 20, 2022 #4
    okeechobee

    okeechobee GC Hall of Fame

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    Honest question here: but what is the consequence of the leak (assuming it occurred as written about above)? One would assume Alito would have voted along those lines anyway. I'm not saying this is not a big deal (if true), I would just like to know why it is so consequential. TIA..
     
  5. Nov 20, 2022 #5
    gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    Aside from it being deeply, deeply unethical (to the point of looking corrupt), there are no consequences. Alito has life tenure. But it also makes one question if Alito might have been behind the Dobbs leak too.
     
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  6. Nov 20, 2022 #6
    okeechobee

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    I'm not saying it's not unethical, but in this case, I can't see what harm it did or that Alito would've ruled differently without their input beforehand. Either way, I'm not surprised at all. This is how our system operates. Both sides buy justice all the time.
     
  7. Nov 20, 2022 #7
    gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

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    Giving one side of the ideological spectrum advanced notice that you're going to rule their way so they can prepare their response ahead of time is deeply corrupt.
     
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  8. Nov 20, 2022 #8
    okeechobee

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    Ok, so what would you allege Hobby Lobby did from the time of leak to ruling that they would have done differently without the leak?
     
  9. Nov 20, 2022 #9
    Sohogator

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    Alito said he didn’t leak and given his sterling character and that if Team MAGA I believe him.

    Which color font do you guys use for sarc here?
     
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  10. Nov 20, 2022 #10
    tampagtr

    tampagtr VIP Member

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  11. Nov 20, 2022 #11
    WC53

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    Bbbuttttt, I thought one group was looking for the leaker to lock them up.

    Insert popcorn emoji
     
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  12. Nov 20, 2022 #12
    Sohogator

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    Well they have their man. Lock him up and pack the court!
     
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  13. Nov 21, 2022 #13
    tilly

    tilly Superhero Mod. Fast witted. Bulletproof posts. Moderator VIP Member

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    Maga in 2014?
    And it's green. Sarcasm is a green font.
     
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  14. Nov 21, 2022 #14
    Sohogator

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    He’s MAGA now in 2014 he was MAGA
    MAGA has been around since at least the 80’s and was given voice by Rush Slimebaugh. It didn’t have a name at first but it festered and grew becoming first the tea party then MAGA. The driving force is poorly educated older white men who are being left behind as they can’t adapt in a changing labor force (it’s a real issue I grant you). These same people are consumed by culture wars and are perpetually agreived that they can’t be openly racist and hate the gays without serious blowback. The basic story hasn’t changed since then but the people have got uglier as their numbers shrink.
     
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  15. Nov 21, 2022 #15
    Gator715

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    If the allegations are true, it can be seen as a way of riling up the public in a way that is both unprofessional and unethical.

    I genuinely don't see the motive for a leak to anti-abortion activists, however. It's going to go their way, shouldn't they be happy? Seems rather inconsequential in this particular case, even though justices just shouldn't act that way.

    Now, if Alito was a dissenting justice, who leaked an opinion, which may cause people to harass or pressure the justices in the majority opinion, that should be grounds for impeachment and disbarment to anyone involved in an insidious leak like that.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2022
  16. Nov 21, 2022 #16
    Gator715

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    The old Alito/Trump said it so it must be false. Yes, quite reasonable logic there.
     
  17. Nov 21, 2022 #17
    Sohogator

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    I love the situational ethics of team MAGA. If it’s a decision favorable to team MAGA then it’s OK but if it’s not them to the impeachment.

    It never ends…
     
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  18. Nov 21, 2022 #18
    Gator715

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    Well, I'd say intent matters.

    If you're giving a tipoff of a favorable outcome of an opinion YOU drafted to people who agree with you, that suggests giddiness, inability to keep your mouth shut. Unprofessional for a SCOTUS justice, but not indicative of malice.

    If you're giving a tipoff of an unfavorable outcome to people who disagree with the majority opinion, and you disagree with the majority opinion, and you know people are going to lose their minds over it, that suggests an attempt to stir up the public perhaps to a point where members of the public harass or intimidate justices involved in the majority opinion.

    Both are wrong, but they are by no means the same or even close to being equally wrong.
     
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  19. Nov 21, 2022 #19
    Gator715

    Gator715 GC Hall of Fame

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    "We don't hate Republicans, we just hate Trump."
     
  20. Nov 21, 2022 #20
    ursidman

    ursidman VIP Member

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    Sen. Whitehouse asking questions. Don’t believe he can put direct pressure on the SCOTUS but it could have some influence on Roberts who does seem to care how the institution is perceived. Im starting to like Whitehouse.

     
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