The U.S. Supreme Court's legal counsel on Monday defended Justice Samuel Alito after two Democratic lawmakers demanded answers about a former anti-abortion leader's claim that he was told in advance about the outcome of a major 2014 ruling the conservative jurist wrote in a case concerning contraceptives.
"There is nothing to suggest that Justice Alito's actions violated ethical standards," legal counsel Ethan Torrey wrote in a letter to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Hank Johnson.
"Relevant rules balance preventing gifts that might undermine public confidence in the judiciary and allowing judges to maintain normal personal friendships," Torrey wrote. "It seems that the underlying issue is the absence of a formal facility for complaint or investigation into possible ethics or reporting violations," the lawmakers wrote in their letter.
Schenck, who formerly led an evangelical Christian nonprofit group in Washington, was quoted as saying that he used his knowledge of the Hobby Lobby ruling to prepare a public relations campaign and that he also tipped off the president of the craft store chain about the outcome. Schenck, according to the Times, wrote to Roberts about his claim.
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