EDITORIAL:
Can SCOTUS Survive the Scandals?
Editorial: Along with a series of outrageous decisions the SCOTUS is facing the revelation of potentially serious wrongdoing, grift, and corruption.
EDITORIAL:
Can SCOTUS Survive The Scandals?
By D. S. Mitchell
Public Backlash
The 6-3 supermajority conservative Supreme Court is facing ugly public backlash to numerous recent court decisions, most notably of course, the overturning of Roe. But the court is also facing public outrage over the corruption of members of the court and their spouses. Clarence Thomas (& Ginni Thomas), John Roberts (& Jane Roberts), Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh are mostly responsible for the bad publicity that has led to the court’s low public approval rating. It looks like this set of justices is bad for the court.
Written on a Sign
I don’t know about you, but my outrage grows by the day. At a recent abortion protest, I saw a young girl carrying a sign inscribed, “I hate it here.” If you are a follower of Calamity News and Politics, you may have noticed an increased tension, and quite honestly, unbridled rage coming from this corner of the progressive community. I too have had several recent “I hate it here,” moments.
Targeted Killings
The radical right sees no contradiction in banning abortion, for love of life, yet fueled rhetoric that likely led to the murder of at least 10 pro-choice physicians. The radical right tell us the Second Amendment is sacred. Sometime between my birth and today, the sanctity of the Second Amendment has taken on ridiculous, and unintended proportions. Since when is the right to own a gun more important than the life of a child.
Group Killings
Originally the Second Amendment described, “a well regulated militia.” Mind you, this was before the U.S. had a military. Out of that simple concept, it is now every Americans right, maybe duty, to load your AR-15, strap it with a bandolier of 30 shot magazines and go walk around town, terrorizing and murdering people who are just shopping for groceries, celebrating at a concert, attending class, or a watching a 4th of July parade. Mass murderers love it when we gather in groups.
I Said
Fuck the NRA, fuck the U.S. Senate, fuck the Second Amendment, and most of all fuck this illegitimate court, this disgraced, this lawless court. This has become a human rights issue-a public safety issue, a fucking right-to-life issue. Every American should have the reasonable expectation of being able to safely go for a walk, go to the local Starbucks; it should not be a flip of the coin, situation.
Worse Than Roberts
John Robert’s has been Chief Justice since 2005. He was nominated by George Bush the Younger and in my mind, Robert’s has been the spearpoint of a ruthless and relentless right-wing attack on democracy. During his tenure, the court has turned back democracy by 75 years, and privacy rights by 50. Even with Robert’s terrible record on gun control, voting rights, gerrymandering, campaign finance, abortion, and every other personal freedom imaginable, there are more dangerous and radical justices than John Roberts, and that clique is now apparently running the court.
A Change of Styles
Where as Robert’s style is to just keep chipping away at a law until over several years it vanishes into history, barely noticed. This new blatantly political court is ready to upend the apple cart, the hell with the consequences, in essence giving the majority of America the big middle finger.
Let it Go Alito, This Ain’t 1776
So, this now 6-3 ‘originalist’ court thinks it can push back all Progressive reforms since 1930. These folks are willing to snatch away Medicare and Medicaid, and the ACA of course, will fall. Gut the EPA. Ban abortions, nationwide. When you see a judicial institution disregard established law and take up the task of writing new laws, ignoring the legislative branch, just because they can; says to me that we are in a dangerous place. It seems apparent that swift action is necessary.
What I Think
This Thomas-Alito court seems hell bent on destroying any shred of validity this court ever had. The most recent public confidence polls show the court to be deeply unpopular. The approval level of the court among all voters is at a jaw dropping 25%. Talk about Biden’s underwater numbers. As laws become more oppressive, affecting larger swaths of the population; enforcement may fail, in fact, it most likely will. As larger numbers of citizens commit the unenforceable crimes, police and prosecutors begin to ignore them. The overturning of Roe is so unpopular 70% of the country is in full revolt.
Anywhere, Anytime
The lawmakers just passed the first gun safety act in thirty years. My cynical side says, “a little is better than nothing.” My realistic side says, “not nearly enough.” As I said previously, the Second Amendment guarantees do not supersede those of LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Yet, the radical ‘originalist’ court refuses to face the reality of a heavily weaponized country that needs some serious restrictions on gun access, not an open season on all of us, anywhere, at anytime.
Criminal Judgment
The headlines are coming so fast and furious it is hard to keep each of the court’s new scandals sorted out. Two years after John Roberts‘ confirmation as the Supreme Court’s chief justice in 2005, his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, made a career change. After a long and distinguished career as a lawyer, she refashioned herself as a legal recruiter, a matchmaker who pairs job-hunting lawyers up with corporations and firms, many of these attorneys and firms having business before the court. Her income since that pivot is estimated at close to a million dollars a year. It turns out that Neil Gorsuch came up with a sweet deal with a billionaire donor to buy his getaway cabin for big dollars. And then there is the question of Brett Kavanaugh and all his missing debt.
Government Overthrow
Those several justices and their wives appear to be mixed up in some questionable dealings that significantly benefited them financially. The real naughty pair seems to be Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas. The corruption and grift uncovered about this pair appears endless. I’m watching my news feed right now, and there is a new story of how Federalist donor and conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo laundered money through Kelly Ann Conway to Ginni Thomas. He wanted the pay-off to be secret. Why?
Conclusion
When extreme decisions are pronounced without the support and acceptance of the population, those decisions become unenforceable. The court has no army, no police force to back up its decisions, the only thing the court has is its standing in the eyes of the country’s citizenry, and that includes law enforcement. It is time to enlarge the court, install term limits, and codify a standard of ethics these justices must adhere to. Right now, this radical right-wing abomination calling itself the “Supreme” court of the United States, isn’t looking so “Supreme.”
