Morton’s Flooded with Fake Reservations After Denouncing Abortion Rights Protest Just Yards From Kavanaugh’s Steak Dinner

Morton’s Steakhouse was flooded with fake reservations after a restaurant spokesman slammed abortion rights protesters who demonstrated outside the restaurant as Justice Bret Kavanaugh ate dinner.

Politico broke the news Friday that Kavanaugh — among the majority that effectively overturned Roe v. Wade with a 5-4 decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — had to be hustled out the back door at Morton’s Thursday night because of abortion rights protesters who assembled outside.

The site quoted a Morton’s rep as saying “Politics … should not trample the freedom at play of the right to congregate and eat dinner.”

On Saturday morning, Politico Playbook reported on some of the backlash the restaurant suffered as a result — which included fielding fake reservation requests from the likes of “Arnold Benedict,” “Abortion Rights,” and the classic “Dick Hertz“:

“Brett Kavanaugh’s Right to Dine Shall Not Be Infringed,”Esquire’s Jack Holmes teased. The New Republic’s Matt Ford examined medieval “sumptuary laws” that regulated private luxuries and concluded, “There Is No Constitutional Right to Eat Dinner.”

Others flooded OpenTable with fake reservations. At one location, the fake diners included “Arnold Benedict,” “Abortion Rights” and “First Amendment,” according to an Instagram story one employee posted. At another Morton’s, reservations that were removed Friday night included “Dick Hertz,” “Amy Coney,” “Neil Gor,” “Kava Naugh,” “Roe Wade,” “Jane Doe” and “Pro Choice,” according to a reservation list Lippman obtained.

The site also noted conservative support for the chain, including Peter Doocy‘s extensive grilling of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the subject

Politico also obtained an internal email on the uproar:

“Currently we are experiencing a massive wave (trending at #2 on social media now) of negative response to our comments yesterday as well as being bombarded at the local level with phone calls and fake reservations on Open Table,” SCOTT CRAIN, SVP and COO of Morton’s, wrote to managers in an email obtained by Lippman.

“[T]here is a good chance that your restaurant will also potentially have some people reaching out for comment and/or making (bogus) reservations over the next few days. As I stated yesterday, our comment is always ‘No Comment.’ We don’t respond, we don’t retweet, we don’t post on Instagram or Facebook, we don’t do anything. Please remind your teams (especially the hourly employees) of this policy,” he added. “Again, we do NOT insert our political beliefs at any time – not with an employee, not with a fellow manager, and most certainly NOT with a guest.”

Surely that spokesperson will think twice next time he’s tempted to … steak out a position.