Corruption in the SCOTUS

As Peter Shamshiri said, it’s like saying the cash would have gone back into his wallet if I hadn’t taken the bribe

 

So a bunch of powerful people accountable to no one imposing things the majority of Americans do not want. Sounds like a representative form of government to me.

 

It’s almost like Alito works for this “deep state cabal” we keep hearing so much about.

 

When y’all rich folks took me on those private tours, it was always because they wanted something (equipment purchases). It is a good thing Justices don’t have anything to sell.

 

He must, but will never admit it.

 

The Florida SC is even worse. It's shameful really. As one who was in various positions in the judicial system for 40 years, it saddens me.

 

Alito is dirty.

Alito Took Unreported Luxury Trip With GOP Donor Paul Singer — ProPublica


Alito did not report the 2008 fishing trip on his annual financial disclosures. By failing to disclose the private jet flight Singer provided, Alito appears to have violated a federal law that requires justices to disclose most gifts, according to ethics law experts.

Experts said they could not identify an instance of a justice ruling on a case after receiving an expensive gift paid for by one of the parties.

“If you were good friends, what were you doing ruling on his case?” said Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor and leading expert on recusals. “And if you weren’t good friends, what were you doing accepting this?” referring to the flight on the private jet.

ProPublica’s investigation sheds new light on how luxury travel has given prominent political donors — including one who has had cases before the Supreme Court — intimate access to the most powerful judges in the country. Another wealthy businessman provided expensive vacations to two members of the high court, ProPublica found. On his Alaska trip, Alito stayed at a commercial fishing lodge owned by this businessman, who was also a major conservative donor. Three years before, that same businessman flew Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, on a private jet to Alaska and paid the bill for his stay.

 

Unfortunate result of our merit selection system being gutted and transformed into a political spoils system.

 

Question, since I haven't been a resident of Florida for years is that the result of DeSantis's and maybe Scott's appointments to the Florida Supreme Court or does it date back further?

 

The structural changes to the appointment system, vesting sole power in the Governor, predate DeSantis. But his use of that power has gone far beyond anything Scott did and is absolutely ruthless. Scott would appoint nonpartisan types or even conservative Democrats in cities, so long as they weren't in the majority in any appellate court, at least that he could help. And he would largely abide by the recommendations of the local JNC, sometimes pushing in a particular individual to whom a favor was owed but largely letting them do the evaluation. Under DeSantis, every nominee is called to Tallahassee and meets with his representatives. I should say the ones I know. I've heard it statewide and I presume it is but I don't know that for certain. You are grilled on your past political behavior and beliefs at length. You can't just say you'll vote a certain way, you have to give a full background on the supposed reasoning that is in conservative journals. If you don't have a demonstrated track record of being far right and attending Federalist Society meetings, you will not be considered, at least then. And at least one of these was for an appointment to a very lower level position, I think traffic court.

A term I have heard repeated from those who were in the room is a challenging "how do I know I can trust you " or words to the effect. One person I know is told that they could be considered in another round if they went back to Tampa, attended all Federalist Society meetings, and engaged in some overt political behavior that would be publicly and widely known. This person was pretty apolitical and nonpartisan. They were willing to attend the meetings but did not want to write letters to the editor, work on political issues, etc. And so they are still billing hours.

 

Wow

 

figures

 

Justices Thomas and Scalia must the most charming travel companions. Even more reporting on how often they were entertained by the wealthy - Scalia with 258 subsidized trips in 10 years. NYT reported

 

this gets better. Crow was using shell companies to register his yacht as a charter business that lost money while only chartering toa company that Crow paid for the charter. They call that tax fraud where I come from. I thought rule of thumb is that if it doesn't turn a profit by the third year it is a hobby and not a business

Harlan Crow's jaunts on his yacht with Justice Clarence Thomas were a 'textbook billionaire tax scam,' Sen. Ron Wyden tells ProPublica (msn.com)

Crow's relationship with Thomas has been scrutinized since ProPublica reported that Crow funded years of vacations for Thomas, who failed to disclose the outings. Some of those were trips aboard Crow's yacht, the Michaela Rose, and were organized through Rochelle Charter, a company registered to charter the yacht.

But the trips on the yacht — registered as a charter vessel — were actually limited to Crow's inner circle, according to ProPublica. Crow paid his own company for private trips on the yacht and was able to secure tax breaks and lower his tax bill, according to tax data from 2003 through 2015 reviewed by ProPublica.
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"Based on what information is available, this has the look of a textbook billionaire tax scam," Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden told ProPublica.
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A representative for Crow did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. But it points out that Crow recorded $8 million in losses for the family company Rochelle Charter, saving on taxes as a result between 2003 and 2015. The megadonor purported to charter the boat for profit and instead took friends like Thomas for cruises, per the report.

 

Alito says Congress has no legal authority to set ethics rules

MSN

Justice Samuel Alito says Congress lacks the power to impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court, making him the first member of the court to take a public stand against proposals in Congress to toughen ethics rules for justices in response to increased scrutiny of their activities beyond the bench.

 

Three issues here:
1. Alito is commenting on a political issue that could eventually end up before Republican SCOTUS, thereby engaging in unethical behavior and demonstrating the need for an ethics code.
2. Alito is laughably wrong. Congress has the power to regulate the Supreme Court, as it controls SCOTUS's appellate jurisdiction, size, and funding, among other things.
3. Alito running again to the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal and granting an in-chambers interview to an attorney (David Rivkin) who CURRENTLY has a case before the Supreme Court only further proves what a corrupt hack he is.

Hate to break it you, Sammy, you're not a king. You're accountable to the people and subject to the laws of this land just like the rest of us.

 

Alito is sitting in a seat created by congress--it didn't exist before 1700.

 

At this point, it's not even newsworthy

 

Article link:
The Other Billionaires Who Helped Clarence Thomas Live a Luxe Life — ProPublica

It must be nice to have so many billionaire benefactors willing to treat a person to lavish vacations. And it must be nice to ignore the plain text of the statute and conclude that one need not disclose any aspect of these trips.