Well…sort of? They do not really have absolute unchecked power. Their most impactful power is judicial review. That power is not explicitly granted to the Court by the Constitution. Many people argue it’s implied, or a natural outcome of the powers they are explicitly granted, but the fact remains that the Constitution does not explicitly grant the Court that power. SCOTUS granted themselves that power in Marbury v. Madison. SCOTUS doesn’t have its own enforcement arm. They don’t have an army. They don’t have their own special agents. They have no way, on their own, to enforce their holdings. They rely entirely on the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the individual states to respect and abide by their decisions. The executive branch has all kinds of forces at their disposal to enforce their decisions. The legislative branch holds the purse strings of those forces, so they have a way to enforce their decisions. But SCOTUS? They have nothing but their words. It says a lot about most of the people who have been involved in our government for the past 234 years that this has worked so far. There have been some bumps in the road, for sure, but SCOTUS’s decisions have mostly been accepted and complied with throughout its history (please note I said mostly…I’m well aware of the exceptions and I don’t need a recitation of them). But if an autocrat like Trump ends up in the White House again, and has the fortune to have a clear majority in both houses of Congress from his party? Especially if it’s people like Goetz and Tuberville having power? Yeah, get ready for SCOTUS to become completely irrelevant and powerless the first time they issue a decision Trump et al don’t like.
This is news, but it ain’t new.
Scalia and Thomas both were regular attendees of the Koch brothers annual forum for a long time and that was publicly reported over a decade ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed about this. It’s a big deal that needs addressing. I’m just confused about anyone learning just now that Thomas is paid by the Kochs
from 2014 arguing the DOJ should investigate Scalia and Thomas because of gifts from the Koch boys:
And this is from a story in 2010 by the radical centrists of the NYT about the Kochs annual retreat:
previous guests have included Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, Gov. Haley Barbour and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Representatives Mike Pence, Tom Price and Paul D. Ryan.
Yeah, they seem to have learned their lesson from the first go around. There was some ignoring of judicial rulings, but for the most part when T****ers held the WH, Senate, and House they still didn’t get much shit done. Thank goodness.
Not sure how far this will go, but if packing the court is not an option…
That’d be like the Mirror Universe Davos. Their private jets are probably rigged to roll coal.
Have we heard yet what (and where and when) Ken Burns was doing posing with Thomas and Koch?
It was very influential. The Irish Supreme Court followed that lead too. The British one under Woolfe was gradually adding that power too but the Tories took it away again.
Probably by having a court official writing a letter to The Times with some silly Roman fake name or something.
hey now. he’s being paid by us. the big money is just gifts from friends /s
It feels like this has accelerated in the last decade. With the court making rulings that seem to be divorced from the facts presented or based on fictitious facts simply pushing an agenda. A process that weakens the power of their words and the respect people have for them. Along with a rise in states ignoring court rulings, requiring dealing with them multiple times. With the two things creating a feedback loop that builds on itself.
We seem to be on a path to where nobody cares what SCOTUS says because they insist on making rulings to push an agenda and states are comfortable ignoring them. The reporting on Thomas’s actions (and that those actions exist at all), along with the public statements of Alito looks to just accelerate this downward spiral.
I believe this is also part of the GOP playbook - eliminate the rule of law, ignore any rules or procedures that get in their way, and undermine any respect the public might have for government (or those who work within it). Corruption, clownish stunts, or casting elected and appointed officials as out of touch with the people goes a long way with some voters. That party wins when they convince supporters of the opposition not to vote, so they encourage a sense of hopelessness or disgust.
They push any narrative that might get folks to believe they should be allowed to reform by ruling, instead of promoting voter participation, enforcement of the law, and better oversight. Their efforts to break everything while claiming they’re the solution to every problem they cause needs to die in a fire. Like poison, we’re already seeing some of their ways spreading (Santos remains seated, so Menendez is attempting the same). This feeds into the false equivalence and both siderism that only serves to hide how much worse the conservative agenda has become.
Hopefully, we can turn the tide in the next two years and begin the process of rebuilding. If the GOP succeeds in completely burning that party to the ground, maybe in ten years something less toxic will rise from the ashes. If not…
“root and stem”
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
