Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are drawing out battle lines over progressive calls to subpoena a former anti-abortion minister who claimed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito leaked a 2014 opinion.
The minister, the Rev. Rob Schenck, told the New York Times earlier this month that he learned of the court’s 2014 decision on Burwell v. Hobby Lobby weeks in advance from people close to Alito. This prompted a Nov. 20 joint letter from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), chairmen of the Senate and House judiciary courts subcommittees, respectively, asking the high court for explanations. However, the court’s attorney, Ethan Torrey, strongly reaffirmed Alito’s previous denial of Schenck’s claims in a Monday response, writing, “There is nothing to suggest that Justice Alito’s actions violated ethics standards.”
But on Tuesday, Whitehouse and Johnson didn’t back down. “The Court’s letter is an embodiment of the problems at the Court around ethics issues,” the pair of lawmakers wrote in a joint statement. They have been backed by the Senate’s committee chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who maintained the panel is “reviewing these serious allegations.” Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, vehemently denied such claims on Nov. 19, the day the original report was published.
JUDICIARY DEMOCRATS ACCUSE SUPREME COURT OF DODGING QUESTIONS ABOUT ALLEGED 2014 LEAK
Now, Republicans are quietly signaling they are willing to fight any attempt to gather Schenck’s testimony after left-wing activist group Demand Justice said Schenck should be “called to testify about both the leak and the yearslong lobbying effort he once led to cultivate Alito and other Republican justices.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday he believes the attacks and questioning of the Supreme Court’s ethics is “utterly absurd,” adding that “Justice Alito is a jurist of impeccable integrity and what we’re seeing from Democrats is yet another effort to politicize the judiciary and to attack the Supreme Court.”
When asked if he would contest any potential effort to subpoena Schenck, Cruz said, “Yes.” So far, no Democrats on the committee have called Schenck to testify despite continued interest in Schenck’s allegations by some members and dissatisfaction with Torrey’s response.
Committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) echoed the concerns of his fellow Democrats, telling the Washington Examiner he believes there’s “a need for greater transparency and disclosure by the Supreme Court including ethics rules, which so far they failed to adopt.”
Along with a general interest in learning more about Schenck’s allegations, Whitehouse and Johnson have said Schenck’s allegations are a reason for Congress to pass the Supreme Court Ethics Act, which would require the adoption of a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices. Unlike other federal judges, the nine justices are not bound by a written code of ethics.
Any effort to call Schenck as a witness likely wouldn’t happen until next year after the new Congress is sworn in. Likewise, Democrats are attempting to keep Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in place when he faces Republican Herschel Walker in the Dec. 6 runoff to obtain a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
The Georgia runoff election between Warnock and Walker will determine whether the Senate remains a 50-50 split with the vice president’s tiebreaking vote or whether Democrats will enjoy a larger majority that would give its members of the Senate Judiciary Committee greater power to subpoena witnesses.
While some Democrats are eyeing a way to learn more about the 2014 leak allegations, other Republicans on the committee are trusting in the Supreme Court’s response to Whitehouse and Johnson. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed disinterest in the matter, saying, “I think the Supreme Court spoke on that.”
And Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) suggested the May leak of the draft decision for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion should remain a priority of interest. Chief Justice John Roberts started an investigation into the leak nearly seven months ago, with little to no updates surfacing about the progress of the inquiry.
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“Justice Alito has issued a statement backed up by the chief justice, saying that none of that happened,” Kennedy told the Washington Examiner.
“We need to know what happened with the Dobbs leak, but I take Justice Alito at his word,” Kennedy added.
