A former religious-right activist told Congress on Thursday how he took advantage of the US Supreme Court’s lack of a code of conduct to wage an intense lobbying campaign with conservative justices.
• Also read: Twitter Profiles: Elon Musk’s wet firecracker
• Also read: Did Biden make a “bad deal”? An exchange of Griner with an arms dealer is discussed
Prayers, dinners, trips… Rev. Robert Schenk detailed his efforts during a House Judiciary Committee hearing devoted to ethical issues surrounding the Supreme Court.
Unlike their colleagues on federal courts, or elected officials in Congress, the nine Supreme Court justices must not disclose gifts given to them, lobbyists they meet with and are not obligated to step down in the event of a conflict of interest. .
Reverend Schenck, who claims to have discovered late in life that politics corrupts religion and now wants to tell “the truth,” said he took advantage of that void to set in motion an influence campaign called “Operation Supreme Court” for 20 years.
He explained, quoting Justices Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia in particular, that the order “involved recruiting wealthy donors who became friends of like-minded justices.”
The aim was to “strengthen their desire for hard and uninhibited judgments, particularly on abortion.”
He continued that some of the donors, called “incognito missionaries,” prayed with the judges, and others invited them to dine with their wives, even on leave in their homes, were invited back.
Unlike in Congress, where the amount of gifts is limited, for example, “we knew there was more leeway on the Supreme Court, which made our campaign easier,” he said.
In 2014, during one such dinner, Judge Alito revealed to the couple the content of an upcoming contraception decision, said Rev. Schenck, who had already reported this “leak” in a letter to the presiding judge.
The parties involved denied everything, and during the hearing the elected Republicans accused the witness of being a “liar”.
Judge Alito is the author of the ruling that in June criticized abortion rights in the United States, which was also leaked before it was published, sending shock waves through the country.
These events revived efforts to increase transparency within the court and a bill passed in House committee, but is expected to be abandoned by the Republican majority, which takes office in January.
