Mori. Dick Durbin speaks at the U.S. Capitol in May. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) announced that his panel is examining “serious allegations” in a New York Times report Saturday that a 2014 Supreme Court ruling was leaked weeks in advance. a former anti-abortion activist.
Newest: Mori. Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.) and Rep. Politico first reported late Sunday that Court subcommittee chairman Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) wrote to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts asking whether any action had been taken in response to the alleged 2014 leaks and recommending that if No action is taken and they will investigate.
- “If the courts, as your letter implies, are unwilling to conduct fact-finding investigations into possible ethics violations, Congress will be the only forum,” they wrote, referring to earlier discussions with Roberts. Letters concerning an alleged attempt by a religious group to influence a judge.
Push news: Justice Samuel Alito, whose 2014 case Hobby Lobby contraception and religious liberty and the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, has said that any advance disclosure to anyone about him or his wife’s 2014 The ruling’s claims were all “false.”
- Former anti-abortion leader Reverend. Rob Schenck told The New York Times that Gayle Wright, a benefactor at the evangelical organization he ran at the time, informed him of the decision. However, Wright “denies obtaining or passing on any such information,” the New York Times reported.
What are they saying: Whitehouse and Johnson (D-Ga.), joined Durbin in urging members of Congress to pass legislation requiring Supreme Court justices to abide by a code of ethics, The Associated Press reported late Sunday.
- In a statement, lawmakers called the New York Times report “yet another blot on the Supreme Court’s increasingly tarnished moral record” and vowed to “get to the bottom of these serious allegations,” the Associated Press said.
Read Mori. Johnson’s letter to Chief Justice Roberts, obtained by the White House and Rep. Politico via DocumentCloud:
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with details of the Senator’s letter. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Hank Johnson to Chief Justice John Roberts.