As noted in today's Morning Minute, it's a busy day on Capitol Hill, with multiple hearings underway, not least of which was Tuesday morning's Senate Judiciary hearing titled "Arctic Frost: Conspiracy and Coordination Against President Trump and the American Right."
Video of the full hearing may be viewed here, but Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) took the opportunity during his allotted time to address concerns regarding the Supreme Court — in particular, what he believes is a coordinated effort on the part of the Left to destroy the Court's independence.
Hawley cited the recent New York Times article, featuring leaked memos from the justices' private papers regarding internal communications regarding the "shadow docket."
Hawley ripped into the leaks and pointed the finger for this egregious breach of the Court's security and independence directly at the Left.
The Left is orchestrating a coordinated years-long attack to destroy the Supreme Court
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 21, 2026
Threats to their safety, leaks of their private papers, efforts to pack the Court
I’ve litigated and clerked at the Supreme Court; we cannot allow the Left to attack this institution pic.twitter.com/yZFxdaRlrS
"I want to talk about another outrage today, if I could, that is very much in process, and that is the attempt by the American Left to destroy the independence of the United States Supreme Court.
"We’ve had, out of this Court just in the last few days, another series of leaks. I’m holding up here a page — a printout — this time the private papers of the justices.
"You might remember just a few years ago, somebody leaked an unpublished internal draft opinion — for the first time in the history of the Supreme Court — leaked it in an attempt to derail — it was the Dobbs decision — in an attempt to derail an opinion of the Court.
"Now we have, from the justices’ personal private papers that by law belong to them, we have multiple leaks — from February, from January of 2016 — leaked to the press. Why? For the sin of the Court’s supposed failure to address the global climate crisis.
"That’s right, ladies and gentlemen — that's what The New York Times tells us: The Court has not managed the global climate crisis properly. And therefore, whomever it is at the Supreme Court who wants to destroy the independence of that body is now leaking the justices’ own private papers."
After highlighting the ridiculous nature of the NYT's apparent beef with the Court, Hawley then drove home the insidious nature of these attacks on the Court's integrity.
"This is part of a coordinated attack on this institution that has gone on now for years. And the point of it is to destroy the independence of the Supreme Court, to browbeat that Court into doing what the Left in this country wants, and to hold up a clear threat to the Court that if they don’t, they will be packed with new justices, they will be personally threatened, their papers will be leaked, their security will be threatened. And in short, the Left will do everything they can to destroy the Court as an institution.
"I’ve worked at that Court, I have litigated at that Court as a private lawyer and as the Attorney General of the State of Missouri. And I can tell you what is happening now is absolutely a coordinated effort to destroy the Court. It has been years in the making."
We're four years post-Dobbs, and while we know the Court conducted an internal investigation, the probe purportedly failed to identify the source of that leak. Will there be an investigation into this latest breach? One would hope, but I wouldn't recommend holding your breath on the culprit(s) being revealed.
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