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UPDATE: NYT: John Roberts Told That Alito Leaked Hobby Lobby Decision

UPDATE:

For some unknown reason, the New York Times buried this story in the Saturday edition. It’s about a former anti-abortion minister and activist saying SCOTUS activist Sam Alito leaked the Hobby Lobby contraception decision at a dinner with wealthy donors. Hmm:

In a letter to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and in interviews with The New York Times, the Rev. Rob Schenck said he was told the outcome of the 2014 case weeks before it was announced. He used that information to prepare a public relations push, records show, and he said that at the last minute he tipped off the president of Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain owned by Christian evangelicals that was the winning party in the case.

Both court decisions were triumphs for conservatives and the religious right. Both majority opinions were written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. But the leak of the draft opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion was disclosed in the news media by Politico, setting off a national uproar. With Hobby Lobby, according to Mr. Schenck, the outcome was shared with only a handful of advocates.

Mr. Schenck’s allegation creates an unusual, contentious situation: a minister who spent years at the center of the anti-abortion movement, now turned whistle-blower; a denial by a sitting justice; and an institution that shows little outward sign of getting to the bottom of the recent leak of the abortion ruling or of following up on Mr. Schenck’s allegation.

Here’s the letter:

Sen. Dick Durbin announces an investigation into the matter:

And of course Alito denies it. But let’s remember that whistleblower Rev. Rob Schenck is not some left-wing bomb thrower:

There is, of course, the larger problem of the utter lack of ethics on the Roberts court:

You’ll recall that John Roberts was highly indignant about the leak of the Dobbs decision, vowing to investigate until he found the leaker. Then all of a sudden, radio silence. Roberts was sent this letter by a highly credible source in June, indicating that Alito was also the likely Dobbs leaker, but this tainted right-wing majority court sat on the information. What does that tell us?

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