Originally published at: After overturning Roe, Alito took a luxury trip to Rome sponsored by anti-abortion activists who filed at Supreme Court | Boing Boing
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Alito’s excuses for this don’t make any sense. His main defense seems to be that if he hadn’t gone, the seat on the flight would have been unoccupied, so it has no value? Yeah, that’s not how that works, dipshit, and you fucking know that.
I get Alito and Thomas defending themselves. They got caught, and they’re making excuses. That’s not surprising. What I do NOT understand is why the other Justices, especially the three liberal ones, are not admitting they need some real enforceable ethics rules. They’re all acting like cops, and I’m really disappointed in Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson.
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So, to sum up:
Thomas - ethically compromised
Alito - ethically compromised
Gorsuch - illegitimate (should be Garland)
Kavanaugh - ethically compromised
Coney-Barrett - illegitimate (should be a second Biden pick)
Roberts - meh
Sotomayor - no issues
Kagan - no issues
Jackson - no issues (not that surprising, given that she’s the most highly-scrutinized SCOTUS pick of all time)
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This really is the surprising and disappointing part, isn’t it??
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It’s been suggested that Sotomayor isn’t squeaky clean either.
The same article also says Gorsuch has a similar issue, so there’s more against him than just the fact that he’s sitting in Merrick Garland’s seat.
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All our systems are corrupted and broken in the US.
Alas, personally I have no answers as to how to fix that immense problem.
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Getting a free trip to Rome after doing Rome’s [meaning: The Vatican’s] business (something they tried to say JFK was liable to do) is corrupt, but what’s most troubling is that Alito and Thomas (and how many more shoes will drop?) getting these gifts are part of a concerted effort by Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society. Everything points to him using his influence to pair conservative Supreme Court judges up with rich folks who can fete them “as a friendly gesture”, and who (surprise surprise) end up having cases before the court.
None of this is accidental or innocent.
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This is pay-to-play graft, pure and simple.
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Notre Dame’s Religious Liberty Initiative has a clinic? Must be one of those fake ones that tries to convince women not to have an abortion.
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Ethics is a unique position that requires much higher standards than most other things … if there is any appearance of an ethical issue, then YOU HAVE AN ETHICAL ISSUE. This is different from, say, bridge engineering where it looks like you might have a structural problem but the math checks out and it isn’t really an issue.
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it’s not in the same category
her book deal, like other justices, is out in the open. and, if she recused herself from this one, why not any other copyright cases in the future? it seems a step too far. neither she nor gorsuch are particularly tied to the one publisher. they could get comparable deals with other publishers
thomas and alito on the other hand are literally breaking the law by not disclosing these gifts. if they had, like they know they are obligated to do, it still doesn’t seem in the same category to me. but at least then it would be a question of ethics rather than law
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Hmm. Missed that! (I thought I wasn’t doing too badly, as a Canadian who can name and shame all nine Supreme Court justices off the top of my head…)
It’d be nice if the current Administration would take these recent scandals as an opportunity to increase the size of the court (to at least the number of circuit courts, which I think is 13?) and insist on more transparency, more recusals, and fewer shadow docket decisions.
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Has she received large sums of money from every book publisher? No. The issue is not that she had a relationship with a company in the same class as a party with business before the Supreme Court, it’s that she had a relationship with a company that was a party with business before the Supreme Court. Also, I am not saying her issue is as bad as Alito’s and Thomas’s. It’s not. It’s still a problem, and it’s reflective of the fact that (a) there are no hard and fast rules on when a Justice must recuse themselves, and (b) there are almost no enforceable ethics rules for SCOTUS. Both of those need to be rectified.
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We really need some ethics standards that can apply to the Supreme Court.
I am also ok with a set term for how long they serve.
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yes, that’s a problem. it’s still not the issue with what alito and thomas have done. those would be the questions if they had followed the law. they did not.
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They all signed the “we don’t need no supervision” letter, so they ALL have issues.
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Lock the bribe taking judge up already. Throw him in the same cell as bribe takes Thomas and Kavanaugh.
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When challenged, these people won’t literally say “what are you going to do about it?”. But there’s a cerrtain point where you’re a rube if you don’t see that’s exactly what they’re saying.
If the wallet inspector calls, you can resist, or you can admit defeat. Asking to see their credentials isn’t a third option – it’s option 2 with voluntary extra humiliation.
So when Alito asks you what you’re going to do about it, don’t pretend you didn’t hear him; hold onto your grudge until you can find an opportunity to answer him.
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