Supreme Court leaked landmark case years before Roe was overturned, ex-abortion activist says in new report
According to the monument Leaked draft for comments to overturn Roe v. Wade in May, a former anti-abortion leader claimed he was informed of the outcome of a 2014 case weeks before it was made public, according to a report released on Saturday. in the magazine New York Times.
Pastor Rob Schenck, who leads an evangelistic nonprofit in Washington, said he was briefed on the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, a landmark lawsuit involving contraception and religious rights, according to letter he wrote to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Roberts did not respond to the letter.
The report said Schenck used his knowledge of the ruling to prepare public relations documents and notify the president of the Hobby Lobby craft store owned by the Christain mission, winning party. Schenck said the ruling was also shared with some advocates, according to the report.
The decision of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby is a victory for conservatives, just like the Supreme Court ruling recent 5-4 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the historic ruling established the constitutional right to abortion in the United States in 1973.
In the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the court ruled that having family-owned businesses pay for contraceptives was a violation of religious freedom.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote majority opinion in both cases.
One draft majority opinion to overturn Roe was leaked in May and sent shockwaves across the country, provoking activists on both sides of the debate. It also denied the nation’s highest court, which immediately opened an investigation to find the source of the leak.
The unprecedented leak of Alito’s draft opinion punctured a hole in the cloak of secrecy that normally covers the internal affairs of the court. It has drawn fierce scrutiny from critics of the court, many of whom have been concerned about politicizing the country’s most powerful deliberative body, where judges are appointed for life. .
But according to Schenck, this is not the first time a decision has leaked.
Schenck had “worked for many years” to gain access to the court by exchanging favors and exercising his faith, he told the Times. And in 2014, two of Schenck’s “star sponsors,” Donald and Gayle Wright, dined with Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann.
The next day, the Times reported, one of the Wright brothers called Schenck and told him that Alito had written down the majority opinion, and that the case would be decided in his favor. for Hobby Lobby. Less than a month later, that exact decision was announced to the public.
Schenck did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement obtained by NBC News, Alito said the allegation that the Wrights were informed of the outcome of the case, or majority opinion, was “completely untrue.”
“My wife and I got to know the Wright family a few years ago because of their strong support of the Supreme Court Historical Society, and since then we have had a normal and purely social relationship, ” Alito said in the statement. “I have never detected any attempt on the part of the Wrights to gather confidential information or influence anything that I have done in an official or private capacity, and I will object. I am not aware of any projects that they are alleged to have undertaken for ‘Faith and Action’, ‘Faith and Freedom’ or any similar group, and I would be shocked and outraged if those allegations were true.
According to the report, Schenck’s views on abortion have changed in recent years, and he is working to establish himself as a more progressive evangelical figure. He said he felt remorse for his actions and understanding of the incident, which is why he decided to speak up.
“What we did,” he told the Times, “was wrong.”
Representatives for the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts did not immediately comment.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
