SCOTUS Shenanigans Watch

Here I thought they meant impartial judges would be removed so that the ones partial to him would be the ones ruling (in his favour), since that seems to be the court’s purpose these days.

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According to Raskin, the Justice Department “can petition the other seven justices to require Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves not as a matter of grace but as a matter of law.”

I like the idea, but doesn’t it still just amount to “the Justice Department could write a polite letter asking SCOTUS to finally start policing itself in some way”?

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(excerpt) The federal statute referred to by Raskin, 28 U.S.C. Section 455, states that “any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Raskin said that the statue, “if triggered, is not a friendly suggestion. It is Congress’s command, binding on the justices, just as the due process clause is.”

“The Supreme Court cannot disregard this law just because it directly affects one or two of its justices,” the lawmaker added. “Ignoring it would trespass on the constitutional separation of powers because the justices would essentially be saying that they have the power to override a congressional command.”

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If there are no consequences for SCOTUS ignoring the statute and no enforcement mechanism (save for impeachment, which Raskin hasn’t even put on the table) then it still sounds an awful lot like a suggestion to me.

Which isn’t to say congress shouldn’t try.

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There should be some legal recourse for this family!

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from

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“At best, he’s mistaken, but at worst, he’s just outright lying,” Emily Baden told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” in her first television interview since the flag incident made national headlines. “Even if it were a valid excuse that they were having a dispute with a neighbor and that made them put the flag up, that timeline just disproves it. It just doesn’t make sense.”

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https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4710238-clarence-thomas-financial-disclosure-harlan-crow-trips/

Justice Clarence Thomas’s latest financial disclosure form publicized on Friday includes an amendment to a filing made half a decade ago to include two trips paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow.

The financial forms of all but one Supreme Court justice were revealed on Friday as part of a filing deadline. Justice Samuel Alito requested a 90-day extension.

Another Harlan Crow paid trip - to the Bohemian Grove.

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Here is the Guardian’s take on this story…

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from the article

Thomas received 103 gifts totaling $2.4m, according to an analysis by Fix the Court, a watchdog group. The total dollar amount he received is 10 times what his fellow justices combined received over the same period.

that we know of(!)

The newest justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson… disclosed that Beyoncé gave her four tickets worth $3,700.

both sides! /s

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Beyoncé has a lot of business pending before the court.

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I just came across this chart showing those numbers:

An average of $213k in gifts per year! And that’s just the ones that we know about!

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Yeah well, why not acknowledge all of it? There obviously won’t be any consequences whatsoever for these corrupt, supposedly impartial assholes.

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maybe roberts has been grumbling in the halls? there must be some peer pressure going on, or really, i can’t see any reason for any disclosure either

oh… unless he’s bragging :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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Wow, and not even a beer for Kavanaugh!

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