As the Supreme Court faces a crisis of credibility, another blow has landed in the form of former anti-abortion evangelical leader the Rev. Rob Schenck’s allegations about the leak of a pivotal decision eight years ago.
The detail that’s most captured the attention of lawmakers and the public is the allegation that, over dinner in 2014, Justice Samuel Alito told activists Gayle and Donald Wright about the impending decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that would strike a private employer mandate to provide contraceptive care. Mrs. Wright then allegedly told Schenck, who would relay the revelation to others — including, the day before the decision, Hobby Lobby President Steve Green.
Some naysayers have waved away the account as hearsay, ignoring the fact that contemporaneous emails strongly suggest that Schenck not only knew about the decision but that Alito authored it.
