Judge Buggery remains afoot
It’s not about Clarence alone.
U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) was the first US Senator to say it yesterday. He was flanked by the other Massachusetts Senator, Elizabeth Warren, and Representative Ayanna Pressley:
“I will say what needs to be said: Clarence Thomas should resign from the Supreme Court of the United States. His reputation is unsalvageable,” Sen. Markey, flanked by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).
“It is evident that he cannot judge right from wrong, so why should he be judging the country’s most important cases on its highest court?” Sen. Markey asked.
As it turns out, do you recall how President Obama nominated a moderate Merrick Garland for a Supreme Court vacancy and Mitch McConnell refused to let his nomination come to the Senate floor for discussion? For 11 months - so when his Presidency ended, President Trump nominated and Mitch confirmed Neil Gorsuch?
Well that Gorsuch guy made a quarter million on a real estate sale mere days after his judgeship was official. As a 20% stakeholder in the deal, presumably they made a collective profit of $1.2 million. The property was bought by a big law firm that also has been involved in 22 cases before the SCOTUS in the time that Neil has been clubbing on its bench. (via Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla on 4/25)
Justice Gorsuch reported the profit on his SCOTUS financial forms but didn’t identify the buyer with all that financially lucrative SCOTUS docketing to do.
So it’s not about Clarence alone.
Mitch McConnell had to use the nuclear option, killing the filibuster so a mere 51 votes was enough to get him confirmed. Only Democrats are supposed to play fair.
When cordially invited to appear in the Senate to discuss these oh-so-messy paperwork thingies, yesterday, Chief Judgeness John Roberts replied with a very precise ‘Sod off’ and ‘you can’t make me, Dick Durbin!, Nobody can!'
Other media critics used words Mr. Rogers would never use.
So it’s not about Clarence alone.
But Clarence is certainly a hot mess on his own. A guy we tasked with the hardest of things: being precise and impartial for the laws we 335 million all gotta abide by. Talking about some (unnamed) people who advised him back in the day that accepting gifts from strangers never has to be reported, but it’s okay if you call him friend, why sure, tens of millions in gifts is what every judge needs.
He doesn’t want to talk about the Federalist Society, his billionaire pals -Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow - and especially not his election flipping wife.
Precise on the laws for me and thee but not so much the Invisible Ethics PretendLaw ones.
So it’s not about paperwork alone, Judgeness Thomas.
Some Senators think full disclosure is in order. Silly them.
On Monday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked the Texas billionaire for a complete list of gifts he’s given to Thomas.
“The American public deserves a full accounting of the full extent of your largesse towards Justice Thomas, including whether these gifts complied with all relevant federal tax and ethics laws,” Wyden wrote.
Back to those pesky Massachusetts Democrats:
Senators Markey and Warren also called for expanding the Supreme Court by four seats, to 13, which would more accurately represent the nation and its current judicial system.
”I don’t want to mess with the Supreme Court,” Senator Warren told reporters. “But the Supreme Court is messing with our democracy. Make no mistake, the Supreme Court faces a crisis of legitimacy. The Constitution gives Congress the ability to check the Supreme Court’s power, including by changing its size, no constitutional amendment.”
Rep. Pressley added, ”I’m here with my partners in government and community to organize and mobilize to enact common sense reforms to our highest judicial court.”
“We deserve and demand a Supreme Court representative of the people and capable of upholding the law.”
And let’s not forget the guy Mitch McConnell rushed through in record time after RBG passed from pancreatic cancer with the simple request that the President & Senate wait 7 weeks to seat her successor, after the 2020 election.
Eleven months of blocking Merrick Garland, but Mitch wouldn’t give a dying woman two. Nope, no politics in that.
Judge Brett said his $100,000+ debt was caused by taking friends to baseball games.
Chief Judgeness Roberts is described by the media as a moderate conservative swing voting guy because he brings out the good Hubris & Impunity silverware not the Extremist Leo-Crow standard stabby sporkware.
Jon Stewart’s questions about another pressing national matter are on Instagram now.
In the past two decades, our country fought three major wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. If you count the US military killed in them, PLUS the number of active duty cops in this country…. that’s fewer deaths than the US kids murdered in mass shootings in that same 20 years.
70% of the country wants something done about the guns. Do kids matter or are we being groomed to accept those awful losses?