U.S. Supreme Court: Post-Ginsburg Edition

These folks have a job for life on good behavior (which really only means that they can theoretically be impeached).

Therefore I don't see any incentive for any of them to act in the public interest

plus impeachment, if I recall, has only been even attempted once and didn't go anywhere.

once you're in, you can basically make up the rules as you go along with no accountability

since you don't actually have to be a judge elsewhere first, I expect next time GOP gets in the White House that CEOs and oil salesmen will be the next ones nominated. why even bother calling them justices anymore

next time GOP gets in the White House that CEOs and oil salesmen will be the next ones nominated

ahem PILLOW salesmen

Thurgood Marshall was not wrong when he said "do the right thing and let the law catch up", it's just the first part of that sentence is kind of essential

xpost lol

can i just say my mother bought me a MyPillow before either of us knew who he was, she kept apologizing like she caused Jan 6 or something

How US Supreme Court conservative majority ruling is being used at lower courts:

Maryland’s requirement of a background check and firearm-safety course for those wanting to acquire a handgun is in danger because no similar regulation existed before the 1900s, appeals court judges indicated Friday as they heard arguments on the regulation.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that to restrict gun possession, “the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” through the end of the 19th century.
Two judges on the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit suggested that they did not believe Maryland’s regulations could pass that test.

Washington Post article excerpt

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/10/maryland-gun-permit-requirement-in-jeopardy/

End of the 19th C.? Start regulating magazine size, make everything bolt action, heck, let's require all guns to be cap and ball.

This is consistent with the right's desire to undo the 20th century.

For decades, Justice Clarence Thomas has secretly accepted luxury trips from a major Republican donor, newly obtained documents and interviews show.

The extent and frequency of these apparent gifts to Thomas has no known precedent in modern SCOTUS history... 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/ROuGuyD6r6

— ProPublica (@propublica) April 6, 2023

THIS IS FINE

god, if he could just die soon

maybe he'll choke on Leonard Leo's dick

nice yacht you got there, would be a shame if someone...set fire to it

Canon 2: A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in all Activities
(B) Outside Influence. A judge should not allow family, social, political, financial, or other relationships to influence judicial conduct or judgment. A judge should neither lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others nor convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge. A judge should not testify voluntarily as a character witness.

yeah, you know to whom this does NOT apply? hint there are nine

it's almost as if lifetime appointments are a bad thing

very doubtful that Thomas is the only one doing this

yeah _and_ that lol

there oughta be a law oh wait

From that Propublica piece:

In a statement to the Times, Leo said it was “high time for the conservative movement to be among the ranks of George Soros, Hansjörg Wyss, Arabella Advisors and other left-wing philanthropists, going toe-to-toe in the fight to defend our constitution and its ideals.”

Man, Soros sure is a bogeyman to them. As if the Montgomery Burnses of America haven't been been buying Republican political favor to dismantle labor and environmental protections since forever. Add conservative Catholicism and Evangelical fervor and watch the fun begin.

yeah, sure is high time that conservative donors finally enter the battlefield and begin influencing politics on a national level

Ginni really needs to be stopped but the mechanics of that remain sketchy

she's fucked up but not on scotus. we put a guy there. the mechanics of that are even sketchier. (not galaxy brain i know)

they could fall into some kind of booby trapped pit filled with sharpened spikes on one of their vacations, the mechanics of that are pretty straightforward

pointed critique taken to heart(s)

I am shocked, shocked at the latest Clarence Thomas revelations.

https://i.imgur.com/eM7omfn.jpg

Thomas to everyone: "Drop dead."

Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines. These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.

tbf I don't think you actually have to give Thomas anything to get him to keep making shitty votes

My initial question when this story broke was whether Crow did in fact have any connection to any case before the Court. Of course Thomas is going to say no, but that's not sufficient.

The fact that he's even responding shows he knows this isn't a good look.

This is the first SCOTUS-related story in eons that broke through the mainstream media scrim of THE COURT IS INVIOLATE WHOA NELLY. Maybe Nina Totenberg said something over cocktails last night.

Somebody said, maybe here, that the corruption isn’t necessarily in the vote but in attention to certain details to the benefit of his pals. Somebody also connected this to SCOTUS’ ruling in the Bob McDonnell case that McDonnell got off cause the Court members routinely do what McDonnell did and sees no problem.

I expect this is not far beyond norms, still the law is quite clear. Disclose, asshole.

I expect this is not far beyond norms, still the law is quite clear. Disclose, asshole.

Color me shocked that Thomas felt compelled to defend himself at all.

Color me shocked that Thomas felt compelled to defend himself at all.

Whoops I guess double posting is going around.

I hate this fucking country.

I can't totally hate the USA. It has some nice features, e.g. the National Parks, but its politics never has been one of them and it ain't even close.

pic.twitter.com/196C7QIUwd

— Peter Manseau (@plmanseau) April 9, 2023

Only for lack of money.

— Brent Orrell (@OrrellAEI) April 9, 2023

It's hilarious to watch all these so-called moderate conservatives line up to excuse this shitbag. For all I know, he may not even be a full-on nazi, but who gaf?

Well anyone who works for the AEI is going to defend him cause he’s on their board.

not to mention The Dispatch, i.e. this choad:

I have spent 7+ years arguing that Donald Trump is a disastrous, sinister, and corrupting figure in our politics and that “character is destiny.”

So if you’re telling me I’m defending Harlan Crow because of my partisanship you don’t know anything about me.

Harlan is a good…

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) April 8, 2023

In 2011, Justice Thomas filed amendments to claim 13 years of unreported income for Ginni Thomas despite checking a box each year indicating Ginni Thomas had “no reportable non-investment income.”

The income came from The Heritage Foundation and Hillsdale College. pic.twitter.com/ufpGt0Mnqn

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) April 10, 2023

the obama-era efforts to rehab his intellectual stature seem even more bizarre in retrospect

I don't know if it was rehab so much as a spotlight: "Hey, look, this guy is dangerous and the clever legal minds of the right know it." That's what I concluded from Corey Robin's book.

Clarence Thomas and torture memo author John Yoo discuss Harlan Crow. via @cspan pic.twitter.com/DrXHbgHyzu

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 6, 2023

only the best of humanity