Saints' emails to Catholic church were leaked in violation of a court order

One day after an oversized rodent offered a prediction six weeks into the future, a rat sparked a trio of #longreads that set the clocks back by five years.

Multiple publications (the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Guardian) have new stories based on leaked emails that show the extent of the Saints' P.R. assistance to the Archdiocese of New Orleans in response to a sex scandal involving members of the clergy. In 2020, the team's involvement in helping the Archdiocese with the sex scandal emerged through reporting on an effort to keep 276 emails from being released to the public.

The Saints contend, we're told, that the emails "obtained" by the three publications were leaked in violation of a longstanding court order.

In early 2020, multiple hearings occurred regarding efforts to force the public disclosure of the emails. At the time, we advocated for full transparency and disclosure, especially since the extent of the team's involvement was in dispute.

The emails were never released, which means that the protective order was never vacated. Which means someone recently opted to violate the order.

Deliberately violating a court order is a fairly big deal. In this case, it appears that the violation was conducted to create maximum embarrassment for the Saints.

Strategically, it's smart. The Saints are hosting the Super Bowl on Sunday. The Monday morning of Super Bowl week traditionally becomes a perfect spot to drop a nugget that will get attention, since it's usually slow. Until, of course, the Commissioner commences his annual Super Bowl press conference.

And now that the email stories have landed, the Commissioner will undoubtedly be asked about the subject, with his answer fueling another news cycle.

The identity of the leaker isn't known. But the list of suspects won't be very long — the parties to the litigation, their lawyers, or someone at the court.

The next step could be, in theory, an effort to find and sanction the person(s) who leaked the emails. To no surprise, most judges don't take kindly to their orders being violated.

None of this changes the abhorrent nature of sexual molestation of children by priests. In 2020, Saints owner Gayle Benson issued a lengthy statement on the matter. And, as noted above, we supported efforts to secure a court order releasing the materials to the public.

Getting the information to the public through the violation of a court order is a different animal. A court order operates as a firewall between the public's right to know and the rights of private parties to keep certain things private. When it happens, there can be consequences. As a result, some publications might be wary about accepting information that is subject to a protective order.

If the leaker had gone to only one publication, there might have been hesitation. By leaking the protected materials to three publications simultaneously — and perhaps by telling each one that their competitors plan to publish a story based on the emails — the emails get maximum reach.

The leaker wanted maximum reach. The leaker orchestrated the situation perfectly, tugging on the strings of three different publications to get the stories to land at the ideal time. For now, the question is whether the leaker will end up sweating out the aftermath.

Ultimately, the question for the leaker could be whether it was worth it.