Allegation of U.S. Supreme Court breach prompts calls for inquiry, ethics code: NYT

Photo taken on Oct. 31, 2022 shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

"The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem," says Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Lawmakers are demanding further investigation at the U.S. Supreme Court and renewing their calls for binding ethics rules for the justices, after allegations that a landmark 2014 contraception decision was prematurely disclosed through a secretive influence campaign by anti-abortion activists, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Sunday.

"The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem," Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, wrote on Twitter. "At SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States), the problems run deep."

An NYT report published on Saturday chronicled years-long efforts by the Reverend Robert L. Schenck, an evangelical minister and former anti-abortion leader, and donors to his nonprofit to reach conservative justices and reinforce anti-abortion views.

In 2014, he said, he obtained advance word of the outcome and the author of the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, a major case about contraception and the religious rights of corporations.

"We intend to get to the bottom of these serious allegations," Whitehouse and Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia, who respectively lead the Senate and House Judiciary courts subcommittees, wrote in a joint statement.