Supreme Court Corruption (Formerly Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire) (2 Viewers)

[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

 

[UriUT]

The constitution enumerates the powers of congress. If it’s not enumerated they don’t have it. And they don’t have the enumerated power to pass a law regulating the Supreme Court’s members behavior. Their only recourse is impeachment.

So what constitutes "good behaviour"? And does the constitution enumerate that congress have power to enforce ethical rules on the executive branch?

 

[DaveXA]

The court can’t force a member to do anything. They can jointly agree. But can’t enforce. Per the constitution the house and senate have the authority to set rules for members. Constitution left that out per the Supreme Court.

Again not true. The court can establish an enforceable code of ethics for their members. There's no rule or law prohibiting that. The only question is whether the members of the court have the will to do it.

 

[MT15]

The recipients of gifts are not subject to income taxes on the gifts. So no tax fraud.

The people providing the gifts would need to pay taxes after a certain amount though. I’m guessing that didn’t happen.

 

[UriUT]

The people providing the gifts would need to pay taxes after a certain amount though. I’m guessing that didn’t happen.

For him to lead us down this rabbit hole is disingenuous, at best. It's a distraction. It doesn't matter the size. The idea that gifts were given and recusal for cases that involved those providing these gifts were not taken, suggests at minimum, bias. At worst, corruption. Notice that he's not willing to discuss steps to avoid these cases with ethical rules? Nor even the crux that Thomas took gifts and tried to hide them? And we continually find he's not disclosed more and more with each investigations. Nah, procedural and enumerated powers like we're under the articles of confederation. But he's more than willing to charge the Bidens of "subtle" corruption.

A la carte both sidism. They can't discuss the essential issue because deep down it's their guys.

 

[Lapaz]

The recipients of gifts are not subject to income taxes on the gifts. So no tax fraud.

You are correct. I didn’t know that gifts wouldn’t be taxable for the recipient regardless of the amount, but it is for the giver when it exceeds the annual limit. It is still corrupt not to report it. There is also a lifetime limit on gifts for the recipient, so it needs to be tracked.

 

[DaveXA]

You are correct. I didn’t know that gifts wouldn’t be taxable for the recipient regardless of the amount, but it is for the giver when it exceeds the annual limit. It is still corrupt not to report it. There is also a lifetime limit on gifts for the recipient, so it needs to be tracked.

The lifetime limit applies to the gifter, not recipient. The recipient is not obligated to report any receipt of gifts for tax purposes.

That said, there are rules and regulations for government officials who receive gifts, and that includes judges, government lawyers/officials and many if not all other federal employees for obvious reasons.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I'm sure this was a casual call...

Alito spoke with Trump before president-elect asked Supreme Court to delay his sentencing | CNN Politics

Justice Samuel Alito said he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump by phone this week in support of a former law clerk who is seeking a job in the incoming administration

www.cnn.com

 

[fooferdoggie]

I'm sure this was a casual call...

Alito spoke with Trump before president-elect asked Supreme Court to delay his sentencing | CNN Politics

Justice Samuel Alito said he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump by phone this week in support of a former law clerk who is seeking a job in the incoming administration

www.cnn.com

such innocence sure we belive him.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I'm sure this was a casual call...

Alito spoke with Trump before president-elect asked Supreme Court to delay his sentencing | CNN Politics

Justice Samuel Alito said he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump by phone this week in support of a former law clerk who is seeking a job in the incoming administration

www.cnn.com

We’re supposed to believe that it was about a job interview. On Tuesday, president-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone with supreme court Justice Samuel Alito; the call came just a few hours before Trump’s attorneys petitioned the supreme court to put a stop to his criminal sentencing, scheduled for this Friday, in a New York state court.

Alito insists that this was all perfectly innocent. “William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from president-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position,” the justice told ABC Newsafter word of the call leaked on Wednesday.

Levi, it seems, is being considered for a role as the general counsel for Trump’s department of defense.

It is not exactly the sort of role that demands personal vetting from the president-elect, especially not for a candidate like Levi, who already worked in the first Trump administration, as an assistant to then attorney general Bill Barr – a job he held much more recently than his Alito clerkship in 2012.

Still, Alito tells us, this is all they discussed. The fact of the president-elect’s own criminal sentencing, which the supreme court will decide whether to stop or allow, was supposedly irrelevant to the call.

This is difficult to believe. Alito, after all, has made no secret of his investment in the idea that Trump should be above the law: in addition to joining the supreme court majority that mooted the applicability of most federal criminal law to Trump, Alito himself has also flown flags associated with the January 6 insurrection outside at least two of his properties.

He is a staunch supporter of Trump’s agenda and a believer in a maximalist view of the powers afforded to the presidency, at least when a Republican occupies it.

He is certain to be an ally of the Trump administration on the court, reshaping the law in ways that suit the Republican agenda, for the rest of his time there.……..

Why are US supreme court justices starting to sound like Trump? | Moira Donegan

The justices are increasingly operating by the sheer force of raw power. That should trouble us all

www.theguardian.com