Two Democrats in Congress are reportedly pressing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to say what's being done about an alleged leak of a high-profile 2014 ruling that gave religious business owners leeway on compliance with Obamacare birth control coverage rules.
According to Politico, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., also want an examination of claims that religious conservatives lobbied the justices with meals and social engagements.
The news outlet reported the lawmakers are warning if the high court won't investigate the ethics misconduct, Congress will.
Politico also reported the Democrat lawmakers criticized the Supreme Court response to a September letter to Roberts asking for information about reported lobbying of justices on cases with religious implications.
"A response pointing out the existence of rules is not responsive to questions about whether those rules were broken," Whitehouse and Johnson wrote Sunday, Politico reported, providing a link to the letter.
"It seems that the underlying issue is the absence of a formal facility for complaint or investigation into possible ethics or reporting violations. ... If the Court, as your letter suggests, is not willing to undertake fact-finding inquiries into possible ethics violations that leaves Congress as the only forum."
The pressure comes in the wake of a New York Times report Saturday about a former anti-abortion activist's claim he got advance word about the outcome of the 2014 Hobby Lobby case that ruled businesses didn't have to comply with all Affordable Care Act's requirements on birth control coverage.
Rev. Rob Schenck, a former evangelical minister, claims he was alerted to Justice Samuel Alito's opinion weeks before it was made public — and that his information came from a dinner a wealthy couple had with Alito at their Virginia home after making donations to the Supreme Court Historical Society, Politico reported.
Alito denied he or his wife were responsible for any leak, as did another person at the dinner, Gayle Wright, wife of the late Ohio real estate developer Don Wright, Politico reported.
According to Politico, Schenck wrote to Roberts in July about the alleged 2014 leak, saying the high court might want to look at the episode as it considers how to deal with the high-profile disclosure in May of Alito's draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
The letter from Whitehouse and Johnson asks Roberts to explain whether the court has "reevaluated any of its practices, procedures, or rules related to judicial ethics, or the justices' receipt and reporting of gifts and travel" as a result of the reports and Schenck's letter.
"Who is responsible for policing the relationship between the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court Historical Society to ensure that paid membership in the Society is not used as a means of gaining undue influence?" the lawmakers asked.
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