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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHeather Cox Richardson - November 21, 2022 (Monday) "Operation Higher Court"
Two big stories landed over the weekend.
The first harks back to the furor last May when the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Healththe decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized abortion rights as a constitutional rightwas leaked to Politico before it was released. At the time, Chief Justice John Roberts called the leak a singular and egregious breach of trust and ordered an investigation to find the leaker. In late October, Justice Samuel Alito told the Heritage Foundation that the leak was a grave betrayal of trust by somebody, and it was a shock that had made the courts right-wing majority targets for assassination.
On Saturday, Jodi Kantor and Jo Becker of the New York Times reported that the Reverend Rob Schenck, formerly an antiabortion activist, wrote to Roberts in July (although the letter was dated June 7, 2022) to say that in 2014 he had received advance notice of the courts decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobbythe decision allowing corporations to deny their employees contraceptive health care coveragefrom a woman who had just had dinner with Justice and Mrs. Alito. The dinner guest told Schenck that she had learned that Alito was writing the decision and that it would favor evangelical Christians. Schenck, who has become an advocate of choice as he is trying to mark himself as a progressive evangelical leader, signed the letter to Roberts, Yours in the interest of truth and fairness.
Schenck provided the reporters with contemporary emails suggesting he knew the outcome of the Hobby Lobby case ahead of time, and they talked to four people who confirmed that he had confidential information about it before the court handed it down. He used that information to prepare a public relations push ready to go the minute the decision was public.
The leak of a Supreme Court decision is shocking and potentially illegal, but even more shocking than the revelation that there have been two major leaks from the courtboth of right-wing opinions authored by Alitowas the story the reporters unraveled of the degree to which evangelical activists worked to become close to the justices, especially through participation in the courts historical society, as well as religious events, a plan Schenck called Operation Higher Court. Their goal was to influence the justices quietly, and it appears to have been at least somewhat successful: in July, Peggy Nienaber, the executive director of Liberty Counsels D.C. ministry, who worked with Schenck, was caught on a hot mic saying she prayed with certain Supreme Court justices.
The first harks back to the furor last May when the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Healththe decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized abortion rights as a constitutional rightwas leaked to Politico before it was released. At the time, Chief Justice John Roberts called the leak a singular and egregious breach of trust and ordered an investigation to find the leaker. In late October, Justice Samuel Alito told the Heritage Foundation that the leak was a grave betrayal of trust by somebody, and it was a shock that had made the courts right-wing majority targets for assassination.
On Saturday, Jodi Kantor and Jo Becker of the New York Times reported that the Reverend Rob Schenck, formerly an antiabortion activist, wrote to Roberts in July (although the letter was dated June 7, 2022) to say that in 2014 he had received advance notice of the courts decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobbythe decision allowing corporations to deny their employees contraceptive health care coveragefrom a woman who had just had dinner with Justice and Mrs. Alito. The dinner guest told Schenck that she had learned that Alito was writing the decision and that it would favor evangelical Christians. Schenck, who has become an advocate of choice as he is trying to mark himself as a progressive evangelical leader, signed the letter to Roberts, Yours in the interest of truth and fairness.
Schenck provided the reporters with contemporary emails suggesting he knew the outcome of the Hobby Lobby case ahead of time, and they talked to four people who confirmed that he had confidential information about it before the court handed it down. He used that information to prepare a public relations push ready to go the minute the decision was public.
The leak of a Supreme Court decision is shocking and potentially illegal, but even more shocking than the revelation that there have been two major leaks from the courtboth of right-wing opinions authored by Alitowas the story the reporters unraveled of the degree to which evangelical activists worked to become close to the justices, especially through participation in the courts historical society, as well as religious events, a plan Schenck called Operation Higher Court. Their goal was to influence the justices quietly, and it appears to have been at least somewhat successful: in July, Peggy Nienaber, the executive director of Liberty Counsels D.C. ministry, who worked with Schenck, was caught on a hot mic saying she prayed with certain Supreme Court justices.
Heather Cox Richardson released this on Facebook. She also has a paid subscriber page.
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Heather Cox Richardson - November 21, 2022 (Monday) "Operation Higher Court" (Original Post)
Algernon Moncrieff
Nov 2022
OP
teach1st
(5,936 posts)1. Direct link to this on Heather Cox Richardson's Substack
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)2. Schenck said "he had worked for years to exploit the court's permeability."
The high court's "permeability" by and to RW interests is of course a BFD.
And it's a lot more pervasive than just this. How about "colludability"? Scalia's private visits and paid appearances to RW bigwigs and their events, including the Kochs and many others of their allies, were never investigated. But everyone knew it was happening. We never even learned why none of the nearly 40 other guests at the secret gathering where he died wouldn't reveal anything about it and him, not even a eulogy or chatty article about his last golf game.
But regarding the permeability, NYT:
The evidence for Mr. Schencks account of the breach (2014 Hobby Lobby) has gaps. But in months of examining Mr. Schencks 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.
Mr. Schenck, who used to lead an evangelical nonprofit in Washington, said he learned about the Hobby Lobby opinion because he had worked for years to exploit the courts permeability. He gained access through faith, through favors traded with gatekeepers and through wealthy donors to his organization, abortion opponents whom he called stealth missionaries. ...
In interviews and thousands of emails and other records he shared with The Times, Mr. Schenck provided details of the effort he called the Ministry of Emboldenment.
Mr. Schenck recruited wealthy donors like Mrs. Wright and her husband, Donald, encouraging them to invite some of the justices to meals, to their vacation homes or to private clubs. He advised allies to contribute money to the Supreme Court Historical Society and then mingle with justices at its functions. He ingratiated himself with court officials who could help give him access, records show.
All the while, he leveraged his connections to raise money for his nonprofit, Faith and Action. Mr. Schenck said he pursued the Hobby Lobby information to cultivate the businesss president, Steve Green, as a donor. ...
According to Alitos statement, the justice and his wife had a casual and purely social relationship with Wright and her husband. ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/us/supreme-court-leak-abortion-roe-wade.html
Mr. Schenck, who used to lead an evangelical nonprofit in Washington, said he learned about the Hobby Lobby opinion because he had worked for years to exploit the courts permeability. He gained access through faith, through favors traded with gatekeepers and through wealthy donors to his organization, abortion opponents whom he called stealth missionaries. ...
In interviews and thousands of emails and other records he shared with The Times, Mr. Schenck provided details of the effort he called the Ministry of Emboldenment.
Mr. Schenck recruited wealthy donors like Mrs. Wright and her husband, Donald, encouraging them to invite some of the justices to meals, to their vacation homes or to private clubs. He advised allies to contribute money to the Supreme Court Historical Society and then mingle with justices at its functions. He ingratiated himself with court officials who could help give him access, records show.
All the while, he leveraged his connections to raise money for his nonprofit, Faith and Action. Mr. Schenck said he pursued the Hobby Lobby information to cultivate the businesss president, Steve Green, as a donor. ...
According to Alitos statement, the justice and his wife had a casual and purely social relationship with Wright and her husband. ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/us/supreme-court-leak-abortion-roe-wade.html
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,543 posts)3. It's likely that Mockalito's ego causes him to brag before ruling.