Someone shared the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which the U.S. Supreme Court used to overturn Roe v. Wade, a little over a year ago. Even though the decision wasn’t made public until late June, protests and threats were made against conservative judges because of the leak. Sharp complaints have been made about how the Biden administration has responded, especially when it comes to the Department of Justice. Protests are still going on to this day.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Townhall about the leak and the effects of what the leaker did. He stressed the importance of giving the judges the protection “that they clearly need.” The senator also said that Attorney General Merrick Garland needs to do his job, since this problem has reached a “fever pitch” and illegal protests are “still going on.”
Hawley said that Garland “needs to enforce the law,” and he even said, “If anyone needs to have their funding cut off, it’s Merrick Garland. Maybe we need to zero out his salary” to “make it clear to him that he needs to do his job and enforce the law.”
Our friends at Twitchy heard about Hawley’s worries from last week. He said that he was worried that Democrats might try to cut $10 million from the Supreme Court’s budget, and that this could come from money that is needed for security.
Not only did Attorney General Merrick Garland do very little to protect the justices from illegal protests, but Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) recently brought up training slides that show Marshals were told not to make arrests.
Hawley said that the leak, the illegal protests and assassination plans against the justices, and the ways in which Democrats attack the Court and its conservative members are all part of an attack against a “independent judiciary.”
Hawley talked about how important it is to find out who the leaker is. He also worried about what the leaker did and what many Democrats are trying to do by “pressuring and forcing the Court to do what they want.”
“That’s what’s going on here,” said the senator.
Hawley also said, “I think we are in a dangerous time.” He added, “We have to say that whether you love the Court’s decisions, hate them, or feel something in between, our Constitution gives us an independent judiciary, and I think we have to stand on that principle. Trying to force the Court to do something is dangerous and wrong.”
The attacks on the Court and the conservative judges, especially Justice Clarence Thomas, by Democrats are getting worse and worse very quickly. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a meeting on “Supreme Court Ethics Reform.” During the hearing, Republican members talked about how obvious these political crusades have become.
“That’s why the leaker did what he or she did. All of the attacks on the judges, especially Justice Thomas, are clearly organized, and that’s why the leaker did what he or she did. It is clear that they are trying to force the Court to do what they want,” Hawley told Townhall.
Hawley has been very clear that he doesn’t agree with some of the decisions this Court has made. However, he has also said, “There is a big difference between saying, ‘You know what, I don’t agree with that,’ and saying, ‘I’m going to try to pack the Court, intimidate the Court, or change the Court so they’ll do what I want them to do.'” That’s not a free court system. That’s not what the Constitution says.”
Hawley went even further, saying, “I do think that the left’s attack on the Court is very, very dangerous, and I think that the leak and the recent attacks on Justice Thomas are part of that.”
Hawley said that the situation has hit “a fever pitch from the left,” and he also brought up threats that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made in March 2020 against Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch if they didn’t vote the way he wanted in an abortion case.
In June of last year, someone was caught for trying to kill Justice Kavanaugh and saying they wanted to kill two other right justices as well.
Hawley said that people who want to protest should “just follow the law” and do so in a public place, not at the homes of the justices, especially at night and while frightening their children.
Hawley said, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said the same thing in a phone chat with the Daily Signal last week, that it is still possible and very important to find out who is leaking information. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the Dobbs opinion, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview last month that he thinks he knows who leaked the decision. Hawley said he “wasn’t surprised at all” by this.
Hawley himself said, “I don’t think it’s that hard to find the leaker,” and he talked about how few people work at the Court from his own experience. Hawley used to work as a clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts. Senator Lee, who worked as a clerk for Justice Alito, did the same thing a year later.
Hawley said that there are only 36 workers in a given year. He also said that the regular staff are “wonderful, wonderful people,” but that “numerically, there just aren’t that many of them,” and “it’s not really a very big staff at all.”
Because the number was so small, Hawley said, “I just don’t buy this, this ‘oh, we can’t tell who it is.'”
Sen. Lee had also said that time was running out. Lee had told the Daily Signal that the situation could get worse if the leaker is not found. He said, “This will keep going on if there are no consequences.” The review from January didn’t turn up much, and they couldn’t figure out who leaked the information.