Supreme Court Corruption (Formerly Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire) (1 Viewer)

[cuddlemonkey]

It seems that a billionaire GOP donor has spent a small fortune on vacations for Ginni and Clarence Thomas.

Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From Major GOP Donor

Island-hopping on a superyacht. Private jet rides around the world. The undisclosed gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the Supreme Court. “It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this,” says one former judge.

www.propublica.org

 

[MT15]

The code would apply to the 2 cases they have right now that concern Trump and the insurrection. That’s how a conflict of interest works, isn’t it? Because of something that happened or that you did in the past, you cannot rule on this case before you now. Which is why Jackson recused herself on the Harvard case, because she used to teach there.

They should both recuse themselves from the current 2 cases.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

He can suggest they recuse themselves, but it's not up to him. For all we know, he may have had that conversation with them already and they refused to budge. It's hard to know either way.

A strong chief justice has a lot of sway behind the scenes if he has the balls to exert it. You look at some of the most important decisions of the previous chief justices I mentioned and you will find those came from strong chief justices imposing themselves on the Court. For example, Brown vs. Board of Education was not a unanimous decision in its early stages. Earl Warren insisted it be and moved the justices to get behind that plan. Roberts doesn't have that type of sway to control his court.

 

[LA - L.A.]

A strong chief justice has a lot of sway behind the scenes if he has the balls to exert it. You look at some of the most important decisions of the previous chief justices I mentioned and you will find those came from strong chief justices imposing themselves on the Court. For example, Brown vs. Board of Education was not a unanimous decision in its early stages. Earl Warren insisted it be and moved the justices to get behind that plan. Roberts doesn't have that type of sway to control his court.

I don't think the issue is that Roberts doesn't have the ability to sway. I think the issue is that Roberts is completely on side with Thomas and Alito, so he has zero motivation to even try to sway them. Let's not forget that the same guy who appointed Alito also appointed Roberts.

 

[DaveXA]

The code would apply to the 2 cases they have right now that concern Trump and the insurrection. That’s how a conflict of interest works, isn’t it? Because of something that happened or that you did in the past, you cannot rule on this case before you now. Which is why Jackson recused herself on the Harvard case, because she used to teach there.

They should both recuse themselves from the current 2 cases.

Fair enough. I can agree on that point.

 

[DaveXA]

A strong chief justice has a lot of sway behind the scenes if he has the balls to exert it. You look at some of the most important decisions of the previous chief justices I mentioned and you will find those came from strong chief justices imposing themselves on the Court. For example, Brown vs. Board of Education was not a unanimous decision in its early stages. Earl Warren insisted it be and moved the justices to get behind that plan. Roberts doesn't have that type of sway to control his court.

That makes sense. Good points.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I don't think the issue is that Roberts doesn't have the ability to sway. I think the issue is that Roberts is completely on side with Thomas and Alito, so he has zero motivation to even try to sway them. Let's not forget that the same guy who appointed Alito also appointed Roberts.

Roberts is a true conservative, yes. But he's also a traditionalist as well. There's no way he wants the public eye and opinion of the Court to be where it is now because, again, that perspective in the history books will be a direct reflection of him and his "leadership" as the Chief Justice.

 

[MT15]

I have wondered this as well. Those neighbors have been sitting on this for years.

 

[DaveXA]

I have wondered this as well. Those neighbors have been sitting on this for years.

Yeah, I ain't gonna defend Alito, but I'm trying to understand, why now? What took them so long? How did that all come about? Weird.

 

[LA - L.A.]

Roberts is a true conservative, yes. But he's also a traditionalist as well.

His actions in the last eight years say he isn't at all a traditionalist to me. He's been just a big an agenda hyprocrit in his actions and rulings as Alito, Thomas and the rest of the so called "conservatives" have been.

There's no way he wants the public eye and opinion of the Court to be where it is now...

That's your opinion based on your belief that he has no sway or power.

His sway and power is baked into his position, so it's my opinion that he's simply choosing not to use it, because sticking to the agenda is more important to him than the reputation of the court.

 

[MT15]

 

[LA - L.A.]

I have wondered this as well. Those neighbors have been sitting on this for years.

Yeah, I ain't gonna defend Alito, but I'm trying to understand, why now? What took them so long? How did that all come about? Weird.

A possible and reasonable explanation is that the neighbors just thought the Alito's were being jerky neighbors with the upside down flag, but recent revelations have those neighbors concerned that maybe it was a genuine political statement by Alito.

I could understand the neighbors wanting to keep what they saw as just a neighborhood feud within the neighborhood. I could also understand them going public if they've started thinking it might have been more than just a neighborhood feud for Alito.

 

[MT15]

Neighbors into politics enough to display an anti-Trump sign most likely knew what the flag was meant to signify, IMO. Plus, according to Alito, after she confronted them about it they put up a new sign blaming her for the attack on the Capitol.

Also, this:

 

[bird]

I won’t claim to know whether or not Roberts has authority to get Alito/Thomas to recuse themselves. He probably has “soft” power meaning persuasion if he is willing to use it. I don’t think that he is really willing.

As for originalism or constitutional constructionism both are of necessity bullschlitz. The document is silent on the vastly overwhelming range of human activity. It is also silent with the exception of a very few restrictions on the laws that can be passed by congress. Thus the Dobbs decision is the result of personal belief structures of the majority that supported the repeal. The language used in the decision was pathetic and ridiculous. Precedent is also a term of art capable of being worshipped or ignored depending upon the whims and philosophies of the majority on the court.

 

[LA - L.A.]

Neighbors into politics enough to display an anti-Trump sign most likely knew what the flag was meant to signify, IMO. Plus, according to Alito, after she confronted them about it they put up a new sign blaming her for the attack on the Capitol.

Also, this:

It's possible that the neighbors and Alito both knew what the flag was meant to signify, but that the neighbors at the time thought Alito was just flying it as part of a neighborly feud and not that he flew it as a genuine expression for support of the insurrection.

I'm saying that may be why the neighbors didn't think they should let everyone else know about it until now. They may just be realizing that he might have flown the flag to support the insurrectionists, not just as one-upmanship in a feud with neighbors.

 

[zztop]

I would be happy to see the federalist society to be labeled a terrorist organization

We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority

The inside story of how Leonard Leo built a machine that remade the American legal system — and what he plans to do next.

www.propublica.org

 

[Optimus Prime]

Very true and "calling for her resignation" is putting it the most polite way possible

Calling for her head on a pike is probably more accurate
=================================================

...........The upside-down flag had largely been associated at the time with the “Stop the Steal” movement and efforts to stop the transfer of power based on false claims of election fraud. Alito has said his wife was responsible for the flag.

In a panel discussion on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the former Trump aide-turned-CNN pundit criticized the Republican response to the reporting, which she called “deeply disturbing.”

“If after Donald Trump won in 2016, Justice [Sonia Sotomayor] hung a flag upside down on her front lawn, we, Republicans, would be calling for her resignation,” Farah Griffin said Sunday.

“I find it deeply disturbing, and I don‘t think we can gloss over it,” she added.

The reporting has been met with widespread criticism from Democrats, many of whom have also called on Alito to recuse himself from all Jan. 6-related cases before the Supreme Court...............

MSN

 

[SaintForLife]

Remind me again…which branch of government is constitutionally mandated as the only branch that is allowed to spend government money?

Biden paused the weapons shipments as a ploy to help him in November. Are you saying what Biden did was illegal because only Congress is allowed to spend government money?

 

[SaintForLife]

The code would apply to the 2 cases they have right now that concern Trump and the insurrection. That’s how a conflict of interest works, isn’t it? Because of something that happened or that you did in the past, you cannot rule on this case before you now. Which is why Jackson recused herself on the Harvard case, because she used to teach there.

They should both recuse themselves from the current 2 cases.

Do ethics rules apply to spouses? This is such a bad made up controversy. I realize yall are grasping a straws, but still this is weak and laughable.

"President Biden failed again to note his free stays at the vacation homes of rich patrons on annual ethics forms made public this week — making the omission days after ProPublica was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for chronicling Supreme Court justices’ non-disclosures under the same transparency rule."

Biden again omits free vacations at million dollar homes from ethics forms despite Clarence Thomas outcry

Biden took four vacations at the homes of wealthy supporters in 2023, none of which were listed as gifts on the forms signed by the president.

nypost.com