Corruption in the SCOTUS

Should supreme court judges be exempt from media scrutiny?

Where was the media when this was happening? Why ignore it for so long?
Hopefully senate investigations will be held

 

They shouldn't be but they have been. They have not been covered like regular officials. To the extent that's changed, I would submit that it's not partisan, it's that the court is exercising a lot more power over public policy now. They are being very aggressive in inserting themselves all throughout the machinery of government, blowing through traditional norms of judicial restraint. And then they don't want any of the normal scrutiny, or anyone to imagine there could be a connection between the world they occupy and the benefits they receive and the way they exercise that power.

We will see if media scrutiny changes any of that. If past is prologue, it won't. They realize that they are the best way to implement far right wing policy right now, and they have actively accepted that role, which has been prepared for about 30 years now.

 

So according them them they should be free from scrutiny, accountability, or criticism of any kind. Eff them if that is how they see things. They are not gods, nor are they royalty.

 

The difference now is that the Supreme Court is far more partisan. In the past, it was certainly ideological, but the ideologies didn't run along party lines. Now, they do. And the whole of our society is catching on to it.

 

I don't think it's that much of an exaggeration to describe most of the SCOTUS Justices as politicians in black robes and that description extends to lower federal court judges as well as a significant number of state appellate court judges a prime example of the latter being the Republican majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court which recently upheld that state's extreme gerrymandering which has given the Republicans on a supermajority in the state legislature.

 

Interesting article in NYT. The Antonin Scalia School of Law (ASSoL) at GMU “arranges” teaching gigs overseas in Italy, Iceland, Portugal, etc for SC justices (both kinds) and covers costs of their stay. Then some ASSoL lawyer submits amicus briefs to those justices who were the beneficiaries. The first comment to the article sort of captures my thoughts:

How Scalia Law School Became a Key Friend of the Court
I am reading this behavior stunned. Literally, a law school is using the justices to raise money from conservative benefactors. Then, its law professors are arguing to influence the very judges the law school paid to teach. At the very MINIMUM, no institution—in the guise of professors—should EVER be allowed to pay justices to "teach" and then use the same institution to lobby for favors with the Supreme Court. Absolutely, unquestionably unethical. Why are justices taking trips and getting outside payment for ANYTHING? That friends and institutions do this wanting something back is way beyond "appearing improper." It is preposterous. I always hoped the best of the best new lawyers got clerkships. Nope. Politics. Where is the judgment we expect from these justices?

 

Ah yes, ASS Law.

 

Keep in mind that this is basically what FedSoc is. It's an organization that connects powerful Republican attorneys and judges with likeminded law students, including for the purposes of obtaining clerkships. The joke among liberal lawyers and law students is that it's affirmative action for right-wingers.

 

How to buy friends and influence policy.

 

Sen Whitehouse has been on this issue for years. Here he talks about the "personal hospitality" loophole. Apparently, Scalia got 70+ invitations of personal hospitality to resorts/hunting venues from owners he had never met. He has the receipts.

 

Yes he has. Sen. Whitehouse has been a hero

 

Thomas Helped Kill Eviction Ban Threatening Benefactor’s Business

 

Oh my gosh, Thomas's corruption scandal has actually gotten worse.
Clarence Thomas Raised Him. Harlan Crow Paid His Tuition. — ProPublica

 

I like to play a what if with these revelations. In this case, what if some rich benefactor was cozy with Joe Biden and had paid all Hunter's tuition expenses? Would that just be a normal thing friends do?

 

Weird you guys didn't post this article. Wonder why?

Liberal SCOTUS Justice Took $3M From Book Publisher, Didn’t Recuse From Its Cases | The Daily Wire


Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to recuse herself from multiple copyright infringement cases involving book publisher Penguin Random House despite having been paid millions by the firm for her books, making it by far her largest source of income, records show.

In 2010, she got a $1.2 million book advance from Knopf Doubleday Group, a part of the conglomerate. In 2012, she reported receiving two advance payments from the publisher totaling $1.9 million.

In 2013, Sotomayor voted in a decision for whether the court should hear a case against the publisher called Aaron Greenspan v. Random House, despite then-fellow Justice Stephen Breyer recusing after also receiving money from the publisher. Greenspan was a Harvard classmate of Mark Zuckerberg’s who wrote a book about the founding of Facebook and contended that Random House rejected his book proposal and then awarded a deal to another author who copied his book and eventually turned it into the movie The Social Network.

In 2017, Sotomayor began receiving payments each year from Penguin Random House itself, which continued annually through at least 2021, the most recent disclosure available, and totaled more than $500,000. In all, she received $3.6 million from Penguin Random House or its subsidiaries, according to a Daily Wire tally of financial disclosures.

 

Now instead of "what/if", it actually happened like I posted above? Any comment?

 

First I’ve seen of it and I agree it warrants looking into it. No Justice should be above scrutiny.

 

Who do you think you are talking to? I'd happily shut down the entire Supreme Court today. The Supreme Court is a rotten, anti-democratic institution that serves the master class, always has been. America is the most corrupt nation on Earth, hands down.

 

Agree. Just interesting Politico didn't break this story since they've been posting a lot of these lately...

 

I haven’t followed who is breaking what. I know the latest Thomas school payment revelations came from someone else. I think it’s clear that Thomas’ transgressions have shone a bright light that is capturing all the USSCJ’s which can only be good for America. Outside of confirmation hearings and health issues the USSC has for too long received a “pass” when it comes to media scrutiny IMO.