It's been a little over a year since someone leaked the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court used to overturn Roe v. Wade. Although the decision was not officially handed down until late June, hysteria about the leak led to illegal protests and even threats against conservative justices. The reaction from the Biden administration--including and especially when it comes to the Department of Justice--has led to sharp criticisms, as protests continue to this very day.
While speaking to Townhall about the leak and the ramifications of what the leaker did, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) emphasized the importance of providing security for the justices "that they clearly need." The senator also stressed the importance of Attorney General Merrick Garland doing his job, given that we are at a "fever pitch" on this issue and illegal protests are "still going on."
Hawley declared that Garland "needs to enforce the law," even adding "and if anybody needs to have their funding denied, it's Merrick Garland, maybe we need to zero out his salary" so as to "make clear to him he needs to do his job and enforce the law."
Our friends at Twitchy had picked up on Hawley's concerns expressed last week that Democrats were looking to cut $10 million in funding for the Supreme Court, and that that could come from the money needed for security.
Not only did Attorney General Merrick Garland engage in a particularly weak response to protect the justices from illegal protests, but as training slides brought up more recently by Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) have revealed, Marshals were told to hold back on making arrests.
When it comes to the leak, and the illegal protests and assassination plots against the justices, as well as the ways in which Democrats are attacking the Court and its conservative justices, Hawley offered it's part of an attack against maintaining an "independent judiciary."
Speaking to the importance of finding out who the leaker is, Hawley warned of not only what the leaker did, but what many Democrats are trying to do, as they "try to pressure the Court to compel and force the Court the way they want."
"That's what's going on here," the senator said.
"I think we are at a dangerous moment," Hawley also shared, adding "we've got to say whether you love the Court's decisions, or hate 'em, or somewhere in between, our Constitution gives us an independent judiciary and I think we gotta stand on that principle and trying to coerce the Court is dangerous and it's wrong."
Democrats have been rapidly increasing their attacks on the Court and against the conservative justices, including and especially Justice Clarence Thomas. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on "Supreme Court Ethics Reform," during which Republican members reminded how blatant these political crusades have become.
"That's why all the attacks on the justices that are clearly coordinated, especially Justice Thomas, that's why the leaker did what he or she did. It is clearly to try and strong-arm the Court," Hawley offered to Townhall.
While Hawley has been abundantly clear about how there are decisions this Court has made that he's against, he also emphasized "there is a big difference between saying 'you know what, I don't agree with that' and then saying 'I'm going to try to pack the Court, or intimidate the Court, or change the Court, so they'll do what I want them to do. That's not an independent judiciary. That's not our Constitution."
Hawley went even further, expressing "I do think this assault on the Court, by the left, is dangerous, very very dangerous, and I think that that leak is part of that and also these recent attacks on Justice Thomas are part of that."
The urgency of the situation has reached "a fever pitch from the left," Hawley described it, as he also referenced threats from March 2020 that then Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made against Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch if they did not vote the way he wanted in an abortion case.
Schumer, March 2020: "I want to tell you Kavanaugh...You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 8, 2022
Today: A man was arrested for trying to kill Justice Kavanaugh. pic.twitter.com/WRAgTHN0yt
In addition to illegal protests, someone was arrested last June for wanting to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh and expressed interest in targeting two other conservative justices.
About the protests, Hawley emphasized the need to "just follow the law" by engaging in protests at a public place, rather than illegally doing so at the justice's homes, including at night and while threatening their children.
As Hawley shared, just as Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) did in his phone interview with the Daily Signal last week, it is still possible and very much necessary to find out who the leaker is. Referring to comments that Justice Samuel Alito--who wrote the Dobbs opinion--made to the Wall Street Journal in an interview last month, Hawley said he "wasn't surprised at all" that Alito believes he knows who leaked the decision.
Hawley himself also noted "I don't think it's that hard to find the leaker," and spoke from personal experience about how few staff there actually are at the Court. Hawley previously clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts, one year apart from Sen. Lee, who clerked for Justice Alito.
As Hawley explained, there are only 36 clerks in a given year, and even when it comes to the permanent staff, whom Hawley emphasized were "wonderful, wonderful people," he made clear that "numerically, there just aren't that many of them," and "it's not really a very big staff at all."
It's due to this small number that led Hawley to point out "I just don't buy this, this 'oh, we can't tell who it is.'"
Sen. Lee had also expressed a similar sense of urgency. "This sort of thing will continue if there’s no consequence to it," Lee had warned the Daily Signal with regards to how the situation could get worse if the leaker is not found. An investigation from January had turned up very little and concluded they could not identify the leaker.
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