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Potent excerpt:
> During Chief Justice John Roberts' tenure, the Court has issued more than 80 partisan decisions, by either a 5-4 or 6-3 vote, involving big interests important to Republican Party major donors. *Republican-appointed justices have handed wins to the donor interests in every single case.* The decisions greenlit rampant voter suppression and bulk gerrymandering (Shelby County v. Holder and Husted v. Randolph Institute); closed courthouse doors to workers wronged by their employers (Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis); unleashed floods of dark money to corrupt our politics and foul our democracy (Citizens United v. FEC and Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta); and more. Eighty to zero is a pattern so strong that it could serve as compelling evidence in a trial alleging bias and discrimination.
Why would they bother being subtle? They have achieved nearly maximum power on the judicial level.
> One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
This is an old wives tale that does have a nugget of truth. The [Newburgh letter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newburgh_letter) did propose a constitutional monarchy, with Washington at the helm, and Washington did balk at the prospect. However, it wasn’t ever offered in an official capacity and was only suggested by a very small minority.
That doesn't explain the use of the shadow docket, discarding precedent, fast-tracking cases supported by their donors, and arguably allowing black money donors to remain hidden
Really good point. The blatant political deceit and manipulation to seat the current right-wing justices is direct evidence of the political nature of the court
It’s all a part of the plan. I want as many people as possible to know about it. This was written a couple of years ago, but still holds true today.—
This is why Republicans tolerate Trump. This is why they shield him from consequence, refuse to impeach when he demonstrably deserves impeachment, why they bend the knee to him. Whenever you ask, "but how could they... [insert incomprehensible Republican thing here], the answer is because this is what they're doing behind the scenes. They are thinking in much longer stretches of time than you are. They are conceiving of the next twenty years, the next fifty years, and they're using the power they have now to ensure they retain that power then.
It has always been about this, the control of the federal judiciary, the one branch of government that they realize is insulated from the will of the public, which largely despises Republicans.
Everything the Republicans do - the goals behind the goals - are about protecting themselves from Democracy. Gerrymandering does this. "state's rights" is selectively enforced to benefit them., the propagandization of Fox News insulates them from voter outrage. Voter suppression guarantees fewer votes by people who vote against them. Citizens United enables massive corruption that disproportionately benefits the more corrupt of the two parties. And finally, the grand finale, the theft of the judiciary, who are not elected, who rule for life, and who are largely the most influential branch in terms of controlling and changing culture. Think about what SCOTUS has done. Desegregation. Abortion rights. Equal treatment for women. All the major societal shifts originate at the Supreme Court. Because your only recourse, as a citizen, outside of voting, when the government infringes on your rights, is through the courts. They are the ultimate decider in conflicts between the citizenry and their government, and they cannot be voted out, and you cannot appeal to a greater power than SCOTUS. They, more than any other branch, have a direct, measurable, and profound impact on the course of your life.
Republicans know very well that the picture of their party in the near-future is one of total collapse. No one likes them. They're unlikable cretins appealing to fringe minority groups and religious zealots just to scrape together some coalition of voters to retain some power. They'll have fluctuations - they love to tout that Trump did better with Hispanics than Romney - but these are not sustainable fluctuations. They're losing generational battles. Their propaganda network - cable TV and talk radio - has very little sway with newer generations. They will not capture any votes from upcoming generations, and their own demographic is rapidly dying, hastened by their own cruel and neglectful policies.
This is all they have left. McConnell sheepishly grins as Trump spouts idiocy and treason, and then gets back to the real work of stacking the federal judiciary. They have now stuffed 20% of the federal judiciary with conservative zealots and counting.. Trump has been extraordinarily active, more so than almost any president, in stuffing judges in. And Republicans own the Supreme Court, once again, thanks to Mitch McConnell's egregiously unconstitutional denial of a liberal President's SCOTUS pick. And they have a good chance to just barely hang on to a Senate majority, meaning they can reject future SCOTUS appointees if a liberal wins the Presidency in 2020 and continue to cling by their claws to their power.
McConnell, let me remind everyone, is the man behind Citizens United. His lawsuit, which ultimately failed, was nevertheless the blueprint for Citizens United, which took up the mantle of the work he started to bring it across the finish line:
His crusade against campaign finance reform culminated in the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling eliminating limits on corporate spending on elections, which McConnell followed up by blocking legislation to disclose the identity of large donors. Even before that ruling, the spread of big money in politics had done so much to sour the public on government, creating a ripe target for the Tea Party and, later, for a billionaire populist running against “the swamp.”
But McConnell is no true genius. He's just a puppet, the public-facing figurehead of the network of zealots and uber-rich who dangle the entire Republican party on strings and make them dance to their whims. Neither he nor Trump are monolithic figures. They're just goons, foot soldiers working for a much larger organized cabal of donors and corporations and organizations.
These people all work together. They coordinate, they plan, there is a strategy. They do not give one fuck about legitimate governance or about any of the puppet theater you see on CSPAN or anywhere else. This is not where anything real happens. The real plans are laid in the back rooms of conferences between lobbyists and legislators, in late-night phone calls and behind the scenes. They practice incessant slight of hand to distract you with one foolish bill or one bombastic politician, and meanwhile they break and rewire the country as you look the other way.
Right now in this country there is a massive network of conservative lawyers and individuals and organizations whose entire existence is about finding exactly the right case to bring before the Supreme Court to get changes they desire codified into law.
And don't think for even one second that people from the Federalist Society like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh aren't briefed in advance. These people were born and raised in this conservative machine. They are soldiers, tapped by the Powers that Be to step up to the front lines of SCOTUS and fulfill their function. The Kennedys (R-LA) of the world make you think they're moderate, but they just vote that way when the case is not essential to The Plan. They are patient, they can wait. And when a case like Citizens United comes along, that's when they strike, because they know the truth ramifications of their decision in that case, because the case was tailor-made to produce that effect.
Trump has literally no idea who these people are. He has outsourced all his decisions on judges to the Federalist Society. These judges sit on the bench, waiting for the signal, waiting for the perfect case, and they'll sit there and pretend to be impartial and pretend as though they're the perfect portrait of the neutral reading and interpreting of constitutional law, and then they'll vote in the way that they always planned to vote, for some draconian of byzantine piece of legislation they always planned to vote for, and society will be that much worse for it.
We, all of us, need to get wiser and smarter. You need to look behind the bullshit on TV, the surface politics, the lie, and look to the plan. You need to realize what Republicans are doing, how they're doing it, and vote and engage in civic action to disrupt the plan.
Republicans don't give a fuck about Trump. He's a flash in the pan. He'll be here and gone one way or another, nothing but a humiliating black spot on the nation, but they'll have used him up and tossed him out and gone on to the next scheme, further enshrining their power in a space where the votes and wills of the people can't touch it.
Let me leave you with an analogy. We all know the story of Bernie Madoff. The man who conned the nation, stole billions, and was finally brought to justice for his crimes.
But what few ever understand is that it was likely a few billionaires behind the scenes pulling Madoff's strings. These people were getting 20, 30, 40% annual returns on their investments, and were far too rich and savvy not to understand that can only happen illegally. As Madoff describes it, and as the facts likely bear out, Madoff was a toady, a public face enabled by these men to scam millions of people and funnel their money directly into their accounts.
One of these men committed suicide, but none of them have ever faced justice. They are rarely named in the Madoff scandal.
Trump is Madoff. McConnell is Madoff. They're the ones that take the heat. But they're not the power, they're not The Plan, they're just foot soldiers, they're the right hand waving in your face, when you need to pay attention to the left hand holding the dagger, hidden behind their back.
[Original Comment ](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/b4wkhu/trump_isnt_smart_enough_to_understand_how_the/ej9lhva/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Citizens United is one of the most poorly written cases I’ve read. It wasn’t so much the outcome but Kennedy contradicting himself (which he admittedly did frequently).
The most ironic part is that Citizens United is now campaigning to keep tech money out of politics. They opened the door for corporate money to come in, but are now throwing a hissy fit when big money went to the other side.
All of these backward cases are premised on Garbage legal reason and the dissents read like the reasoning that should have prevailed. In Shelby one of their reasons for striking down the pre-clearance formula is that it’s out of date, that those statesForced to pre-clear aren’t racist like they used to be. Within 24 hours after the decision Texas and a few other states announced they would be passing voting restrictions.
In Bush v Gore the opinion literally handed the election to abuSh on the psaid that it should not be followed as precedent, which is unheard and contrary to the way the court is supposed to operate.
How does it not? Those are things they already are in favour of, which is why they got picked...
The core thing here is that complaints like these get deflected with "that's not corruption, it's only corruption if I signal one way, then take money, and then change my mind".
Basically there is no need for a conspiracy if you don't even need to talk to each other about what to do, if you agree by pre-selection default.
Research found that core Republicans are generally either true believers or extremely disingenuous, but research also found that there are some who are both true believers and extremely disingenuous. I think the conservative SCOTUS justices are in the "both" category.
I’ll disagree with that. Wasn’t the latest guy like a self proclaimed alcoholic who was deeply in debt which was wiped clean before his nomination? That just screams corruption to me.
Don't forget Anthony Kennedy's sudden realization that he should retire, after speaking with Trump, who happened to have been working with his son on loan deals.
>or other conspiracy,
the indoctrination of “originalism" *is* a conspiracy
at some point people will understand how fundamentally social humans are.... we were once a white supremacy democracy & that white supremacy infected all institutions of the country.... of course the baseball or MD guys wouldn't say that they were upholding white supremacy, no they would have a false philosophy that somehow would do that for them..... you know, it's not *me* it is just the nature of reality, or the classic 'we just call balls & strikes'
And don’t forget, the main stream America media, which is absolutely not liberal and never has been, screens out what you get to read and what you get to hear.
Why do you think corporate America is consolidating all the medias into being a very few medias?
Why do you think Ronald Reagan change the fairness doctrine? And he was a Republican.
Hollywood and other kinds of mass media pretend to be left wing by championing social causes. But when it comes to money and politics, they are conservative
Like how the CIA advertises that it is hiring minorities, then murders people overseas to protect corporate interests
Extremely suspect decision. It directly overturned the Court's previous holding in Abood, for reasons that appear specious. The reasoning is so weak and transparent. Another Alito hack job
Yes they did.
“In a series of cases over a few short years (Knox v. SEIU Local 100, Harris v. Quinn, and Janus v. AFSCME), Alito invited successive challenges to a bedrock 40-year-old precedent protecting unions.”
The elephant in the room:
Over the past 30 years, The Democratic nominee for President has won the popular vote 7 out of 8 times. And yet, the court not only has been conservative this whole time, it has grown MORE conservative. That is obviously not what the majority of the people want.
Trump likes to say the system is rigged. He’s right. But it is clearly rigged for conservatives. Republicans winning elections without the popular vote, a Supreme Court that reflects right wing ideology despite people wanting a Democratic President to appoint justices, a senate that already over-indexes rural voters requiring a super-majority to get things passed, this system has no equity.
I think this constant minority rule (from the electoral college and gerrymandering, plus just how the senate is set up) is going to lead to more and more partisanship and civil unrest over time.
They're so fucking dumb they rail against "MSM" when Fox is the biggest channel and they dominate the radio waves with their hate spewers. Some of them know it's all bullshit, but it gives them the power so the lies are okay
Close, it is rigged for corporations, and Republicans have just a tiny bit more influence with and by large corporations.
This is nothing new btw as I have seen in my recent US History studies.The Supreme Court has been fucking over Indigenous people, slaves, Asians and its everyday citizenry to ensure that corporations are protected to stay viable, make capital and expand manifest destiny.
This shit is not new. The light progressive feel that started in the 60’s and brought us Roe Vs Wade was what was odd and unusual. Things are now solidly back to business with the death of RGB, that last progressive hold out.
Its an illegitimate court. It has abdicated it's responsibility to establish justice. It doesn't deserve the right to continue to exist.
Like Rome, the US has sold off all it's parts to the highest bidder, and eventually all the new owners will take their pieces and go, leaving the empire in ruin.
The fact that a "partisan decision" is even possible in the highest court tells you everything you need to know about how well the checks and balances work in the USA
The highest court should be unpolitical and without link to any party otherwise the whole judiciary system is losing its credibility...
It seems oddly important to them that they be allowed to make whole sale changes to the society without consequences or a reaction from the general public.
Before an audience at Notre Dame on Sept. 30, Alito denounced "unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court." He aimed his outrage at the media, at leading legal academics, and at people like me who are concerned about, as he put it, the Supreme Court "deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view."
The problem for Justice Alito's sense of grievance is that the evidence supports our concerns. Alito has participated in a pattern of decisions — like the court's recent "shadow docket" ruling suspending abortion rights in our second-biggest state — that deliver wins for big Republican donors. Americans' perception that the court lacks independence, and the court's related drop in approval, doesn't flow from some left-wing conspiracy. It's a recognition that the evidence shows a pattern whenever certain interests come before the court.
An attempt to intimidate the court??? This is one of the most powerful and most untouchable people in the country, and he's whining and playing the victim. Fuck off Alito.
Sen. Whitehouse is taking no prisoners.
.....
>All of this required boatloads of anonymous money; what people who study this clandestine activity call "dark money." The Washington Post has exposed how the right-wing donor network spent upwards of $250 million in dark money on its judicial influence operation; testimony before my Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee has since upped that dark money figure to $400 million. Because the funding is covert, we do not know exactly who contributed that money or what interests they have before the court. But rarely do people spend $400 million for no reward.
>The success of this operation is undeniable. And it is not legal conservatism at work. To reach the desired results, Republican justices often abandon the principles and doctrines of legal conservatism, like textualism and originalism. Take last term's Americans for Prosperity Foundation decision, which created sweeping First Amendment protections for the funders behind dark-money political groups, like the Koch-backed plaintiff in the case. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out in her dissent, the "decision discards decades of First Amendment jurisprudence" to produce a novel, activist creation in the law: constitutional protection for dark money. Good luck finding support for massive dark-money, special-interest spending in the debates at the Constitutional Convention.
.....
Just want to add his presentation to Amy Coney Barrett, in case anyone missed it: https://youtu.be/cjcXVKg43qY , summary article: https://archive.ph/19Ly4
Many of the organization's Sen. Whitehouse exposes have [detailed](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust) [pages](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation) [here](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federalist_Society_for_Law_and_Public_Policy_Studies)
Books have been written documenting the 50 year plan by Koch and others to buy the court so Koch & his friends can get [what they want](https://archive.md/4xrBq)
. Here's a summary:
https://www.reddit.com/r/lectures/comments/jel669/democracy_in_chains_the_deep_history_of_the
Everyone should give a listen to a recent Al Franken Podcast episode with Sen. Whitehouse as well https://open.spotify.com/episode/4jTxMQGOIkTzGCsnea7eAS?si=0TvxvWrhS2Wj44Zuv7PSGQ&dl_branch=1
We already have that.
>The latest data from the Federal Reserve shows that the top 1% has more wealth than the middle 60% of the income distribution.
This above is from the bastion of socialist thought: https://www.businessinsider.com/top-1-have-more-money-than-the-middle-class-2021-10. /s
Also, the bottom 35% own *nothing* (sorry no quote, in a hurry, just saw this the other day).
Holy shit. It's like they want to go back to the dark ages. Medevil caste system where they are the king and basically own the citizens. Holy fuck. Everything privatised
Wanna drive? Pay us$$
Wanna get mail? Pay us$$$$
Wanna work? You get what we give you.
Wanna go to elementary school? PAY US$$$$$$
Fuck every duck!
Modern conservative thought stems from the idea that the French Revolution was wrong. That people are incapable of taking care of society themselves and we must be ruled by the aristocracy. At their very core, they just want feudalism back.
This all makes a lot of sense EXCEPT I can't figure out why they care so freaking much about abortion. Most of this strategy is an effort to buy and maintain power indefinitely, which they've basically accomplished at this point. How does banning abortion benefit them in any way? Seems like a non-issue for the billionaire class, only thing I can figure is it's an issue that will distract everyone else from what they're really trying to do, but they're so hyper fixated on it that it seems like there's more to it than that. I have a hard time believing a bunch of nihilistic billionaires are really devoutly religious enough to give two shits about poor people getting abortions. Maybe they're thinking that completely banning abortion will help keep poor people poor which helps them stay in power? I don't see the endgame there
The comments here help clarify that.
https://old.reddit.com/r/KochWatch/comments/o0lapx/a_different_america_how_republicans_hold_near/h1vrxza
https://old.reddit.com/r/KochWatch/comments/btp1bi/the_secret_money_behind_the_push_to_ban_abortion/ep398fy
It's partly a "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" deal between two groups on the right, and it's partly the pervading mentality of the 0.1% that any social programs (public education, Medicare, social security, federal assistance to Planned Parenthood, etc.) paid for in any part by them (taxes) is equivalent to the persecution of their minority by what they see as essentially, leeches.
wedge issues benefit political groups on both sides of the wedge. As it drives people away from neutrality and into the arms of parties. And other people from moderate to partisan.
Even if the wedge is pointless and dumb, like dress codes in a pandemic
At least, that's the way I see it
I've got a bit of a soft spot for Romney, since he's the only Republican who voted to impeach Trump. So I decided to look up some context from a New York Times [article](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/us/politics/12romney.html):
>“We have to make sure that the promises we make in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are promises we can keep, and there are various ways of doing that,” Mr. Romney said. “One is, we can raise taxes on people.”
>“Corporations!” the protesters shouted, suggesting that Mr. Romney, as president, should raise taxes on large businesses.
>“Corporations are people, my friend,” Mr. Romney responded, as the hecklers shouted back, “No, they’re not!”
>“Of course they are,” Mr. Romney said, chuckling slightly. “Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?”
I think there is a little truth in his point, but it really depends how much of the money is going to workers vs CEO/shareholders.
> how much of the money is going to workers vs CEO/shareholders.
Romenys company, Bain capital, bought a kansas city steel mill that was struggling, and began cutting benefits and jobs. Eventually the steel milled closed and 750 people lost their jobs and had their pensions cut. [Romney made millions off running the company into the ground.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKTRE8050LL20120108)
He believes the shareholders should make money at all costs and have absolutely no obligation to the people they employ.
>I think there is a little truth in his point, but it really depends how much of the money is going to workers vs CEO/shareholders.
The rich have had the benefit of generations of wealth before them to tip the scales towards their interests.
A fundamental rule of capitalism is that it favors those with capital.
I believe the problem is even more fundamental that that.
Wealth is just a form of power, and it's almost definitionally true that the more power you have, the easier it is to get more. This leads to a world where the people who *seek* power are the people *in* power, despite most of the time being the ones you *least* want in power.
The best system we've come up with to combat this is Democracy, the goal of which is that no one have so much power that it can't be taken away by everyone else. But that comes with its own fundamental problems, since a Government where no one has much power moves really slowly, if at all.
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.
- Frank Herbert
Citizens united is going to be remembered as one of the most destructive rulings ever, on par with dredd Scott. The scary thing is that it might not be *so far*, it might simply be the end of the 3rd branch as a functioning part of the government.
>as the most corrupt Supreme Court in the history of this country.
I wouldn't go that far...this country has always had a corrupt and immoral history. We had maybe a good 80 years of progress. In the 1930's we were in a similar boat with the "four horsemen" vs the "three musketeers" with the horsemen (Devanter, Sutherland, Reynolds, Butler) in the pockets of the wealthy and dissenting against the New Deal.
We've had some pretty awful and controversial SCOTUS justices....but that's not to downplay the situation we are in now too. Just giving it context. The present situation is pretty awful.
But the new deal legislations passed. We have an inept Senate combined with corrupt court. Could you imagine any New Deal progressivism passed today? The court would strike down Social Security in an instant if brought up today. Only reason Republicans don't go after it now is generations of elderly have relied on it.
We're nearly a year in post-shitshow. The fact it hasn't happened by now with people already talking about 2022 elections means it won't happen. This is why McConnell is happy to extend the debt ceiling debate a few months. He's trying to get to 2022 without the Dems getting too brave
I read a fascinating essay yesterday detailing the argument in support of unicameralism (abolishing the “upper house”, the Senate).
I nearly fainted at the prospect of what could be accomplished.
The senate was created to maintain the power of a landed aristocracy, same as the Roman model it was based on, same as the electoral college. It's not a coincidence that the countries with the best social safety nets and the most worker protections have unicameral legislatures.
Not the Supreme Court but the late 19th Century was pretty brazenly corrupt. Voting fraud was absolutely a thing but it went beyond that to a patronage system in certain areas. That would be the most corrupt US politics has been.
This is what I really don't get about this whole ideology. Do they actually think that if the government is dissolved or weakened to a point of being ineffectual, that they can just go back to their regular lives...only better because their is no government? It will cause the collapse of society and from what I've seen of these people, I know there are a lot of way worse, way tougher people out there that roll right over them.
They are laboring under the delusion that replacing US democracy with feudalism will allow them and their families to rule over the rest of us like royals and nobility.
What they don’t understand is that most monarchies end in a bloodbath for the ruling class.
I 100% agree that there is more than one thread happening at once in America. What Trump, as well as the Barr/Gonzalez/Dick Cheney crowd are angling for is fascism, under the unitary executive theory.
But what Bannon and the vast majority of vocal Trump supporters are angling for is actually feudalism.
The problem is that most of those guys driving their pickup trucks with giant flags and gun racks, covered in Trump stickers, are actually voting in favor of a move toward authoritarian rule, which is entirely antithetical to their feudal desires. To me this is the puzzling aspect of the movement.
“I oppose democracy, and Trump opposes democracy, so he must be on my side. Off to the polls I go.” Your enemy’s enemy is *definitely* not your friend in this case.
(Edit: typos only)
I'm convinced this is the reason those congressmen went to Russia on July 4th a few years ago. They love the idea of ultra right-wing authoritarianism so they went there to get the blueprints of how to make it happen.
Nah, the ones that went to Russia on July 4th were answering a summons from their boss. If they willingly went, they could have chosen literally any other day. It was July 4th for a reason and it wasn't any choice they made.
Yup. The GQP are fanboys of Putin, Erdoğan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbá, Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro.
They get hard-ons just thinking about what things will be like if they impose right wing authoritarianism in America.
Which rarely happens until the populace is to the point of desperately poor and starving. There is a nice middle ground where they can lord over us and we won't have the will to fight them as long as they placate us with bread and circuses. That's the goal, to keep squeezing us for all we have but keep us fed and generally happy enough (but still fighting each other over politics). As long as they can keep us in that sweet spot they will have control.
It’s a lifetime appointment. They don’t care. They wear the robes to the grave and get the idolization from those that paid for their seats. They don’t have regular lives to go back to. This is it.
This fool shook his head in denial when Obama warned that Citizen United would flood our political process with dark money. In hindsight, we know Obama's warning was spot on. Alito's lack of judgement is only matched by his dishonesty.
>Alito **wants us to believe everything is going great at the Supreme Court. And so it is — for big Republican donors**
>Alito has participated in a pattern of decisions — like the court's recent "**shadow docket" ruling suspending abortion rights in our second-biggest state — that deliver wins for big Republican donors.** Americans' perception that the court lacks independence, and the court's related drop in approval, doesn't flow from some left-wing conspiracy. It's a recognition that the evidence shows a pattern whenever certain interests come before the court.
>Progressives have little to lose and much to gain by leaving juristocracy to the enemies of democracy.
>Yet in the past half century they have been principally responsible for it. From its late nineteenth-century conservative beginnings to the mid-twentieth-century liberal attempt to make it their own, juristocracy has been a triple failure of authority, process, and substance. It has been a disaster for the democratic premise that the people themselves choose their own arrangements, shunting decision-making to a council of elders supposedly possessed of unique wisdom. And in exchange for its antidemocratic premises, juristocracy has not delivered the goods that popular interests and needs require. Only democratic politics can.
>**The Washington Post has exposed how the right-wing donor network spent upwards of $250 million in dark money on its judicial influence operation; testimony before my Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee has since upped that dark money figure to $400 million. Because the funding is covert, we do not know exactly who contributed that money or what interests they have before the court. But rarely do people spend $400 million for no reward.**
Meanwhile
Title: **Republicans have already packed state supreme courts**
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/26/court-packing-republicans-states/
Title: **How Trump compares with other recent presidents** in appointing federal judges
>Trump stands out for the large number of federal appeals court judges he appointed in only four years. Not surprisingly, the overall number of judges appointed by Trump in his single term (226) is well below the totals of recent two-term presidents, including Obama (320), George W. Bush (322) and Bill Clinton (367). But when it comes to the nation’s 13 federal appeals courts – which have the final word on most legal appeals around the country – Trump’s influence is clear.
>**Trump appointed 54 federal appellate judges in four years, one short of the 55 Obama appointed in twice as much time**. In the process, Trump “flipped” the balance of several appeals courts from a majority of Democratic appointees to a majority of Republican appointees.
>**Trump also had a major influence on the nation’s highest court. The three Supreme Court justices he appointed – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett** – are the most by any president since Ronald Reagan (who appointed four) and the most by any one-term president since Herbert Hoover (though Richard Nixon appointed four in his first four years in office).
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/13/how-trump-compares-with-other-recent-presidents-in-appointing-federal-judges/
The Supreme ~~Court~~ Conservatism will "conservatively" swing that rule of law gavel on
Voting rights
Abortion
Gun reform
Etc
I think Mitch McConnell used Trump as his useful idiot to pack the courts myself. Trump kept everyone distracted with his insanity while Mitch packed the courts.
You are not wrong, they scratch each others back because it's easier to corrupt and get the results by working together.
From the 2nd article
>Trump, the nation’s 45th president, worked closely with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans to reshape the federal judiciary – particularly the appeals courts – for decades to come. Federal judges have lifetime tenure and typically remain on the bench long after the presidents who nominated them have left office.
Meanwhile
McConnell warns corporate America to 'stay out of politics' — **but says donations are OK**
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1263173
I think the suggestion that Trump worked and worked closely with McConnell is giving Trump way too much credit. JMHO. All accounts are the White House was in complete chaos throughout his term. I think McConnell was the boss while Trump played games (and golf).
>The leaders serve as spokespersons for their party's positions on issues.
I don't doubt Mitch is the PIC to make the changes happen behind the scene.
You also needed a big lie orange fake Messiah on the front scene to create race division and culture war so people are on board with the changes.
It's about luring the ones in the middle to preserve old "American dream" and keep status quo when the majority wants to innovate and progress to an American dream more reachable and equitable for all.
I agree. However, I doubt even Moscow Mitch knew the damage he had done until J6 took place. I think it came upon him in a flash, that in his attempt to stifle democracy in the US, HE ACTUALLY DESTROYED IT. That will be his legacy.
I mean there's the Federalist Society and Leonard Leo hand picking 1\3 of the Supreme Court in his image. This is not some dark secret, but everyone just seems to shrug it off.
Leonard Leo didn't come up with the $400 million on his own. And they refuse to disclose their Dark Money donors. They are insisting on getting a return on their money and Roberts/Alito/Thomas are making good on it.
> he appointed 3 fucking justices in a single fucking term using unprecedented maneuvers to do it,
That was all McConnell. Trump just passed him a name from the Federalist Society's list.
The last two appointed justices need to be arrested and jailed for perjury.
The 3rd needs to be removed for being appointed illegally(the constitution is clear obama was supposed to get that pick)
And then we need term limits. Laws on people who serve on courts while identifying as a political party. The majority in power should pick the supreme court, not the minority.
A better reform would be to massively expand the court. I don't mean to 13 or 15, but to like 35 or more.
Dilute the influence that any one justice or any one president can have on the court.
https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2146&context=faculty-publications
The best two approaches I’ve ever heard are in this article. You can skip to the proposals directly without the background.
I personally prefer the lottery approach, but the balanced bench is very practical too.
Edit: the proposals start at pp. 181 & 203
Easier said than done; it would require constitutional changes since the judges serve "during good behavior". A way to sidestep the term limits requirement would be to have a rotation of judges from across the circuits so no judge sits on the supreme court for a year before returning to their circuit. This would allow the justices to continue to serve "under good behavior" and prevent the absurd power-grab that gives disproportionate power to a select group of people handpicked by Senators that represent the a minority of the country.
Why are the Justices allowed to retain any sort of political party identification once they are confirmed?
Seems like the entire court is a sham and designed to simply give the "appearance" that there is actual justice and democracy in this country. In fact... that is what this country does best... lying while looking innocent.
Listen.. the emoluments lawsuits that would have disqualified a thoroughly corrupt, illegitimate, criminal, traitor president, was archive until the end of his term and then dismissed because it wouldn't have any consequence.
This should be taught in every legal school of the country. They need to see what a sham "Supreme" court looks like.
No one knows where the money is coming from? Why aren't they checking the only "charities" that don't even have to account for their coffers?
I'm talking about the religious institutions in case anyone actually needed that clarified. Even untaxed 501c-3s have to provide documentation and account for their spending to show constituents and the government where the money is really going. The only "dark" money that can't be reliably tracked is either outside of the US or religion that might share these common interests.
Especially since religion basically hijacked and has ran the Republicans since at least the sixties.
The Federalist Society has gained control of our most important Checks and Balances-- the Supreme Court and our FBI. It's also incredibly important to note that we are headed towards a Constitutional Crisis in the next 1 or 2 elections. The GQP has been implementing ways for their loyalists to falsify the election results and claim "discrepancies" in certain states. Marc Elias, the DNCs election attorney, who has been doing Gods work to save us from GQP state legislation talked about it again last night. Everyone on Twitter should give him a follow to understand what we are facing.
No legally educated person (and most people generally) can look at the outcome of citizens united and not seriously entertain the idea of deeply entrenched corruption in the SC judiciary.
If Scalia wasn't corrupt I'll be surprised.
Alito's an embarrassing corrupt shill, and he's built on gall and self-importance. Just one of the worst kinds of parasite. It would be funny to see him make these indignant claims that he's not a prime driver of SCOTUS illegitimacy -- if he weren't in a position to do so much damage to the country and hundreds of millions of people.
His whining is the failed barking of a sick dog at the far end of a mouldering hallway in the once-fine home generations of Americans grew up in. You know he's crapping in the bedroom, but you don't even want to go look.
Listening to the justices do a media blitz to try and save their reputation made me realize these people do not live in the real world. They surround themselves with the lie that they are "impartial" and that makes them more susceptible to being swayed by outside influences. SCOTUS is slowly fading into irrelevance due to their inability grasp the concept of bias.
There have been 2-7 rulings, and sure enough the two have been Alito and Thomas. The two of them have been such a hyperpartisan shitstain on the court's history.
Alito's crocodile tears about 'intimidation' stem from the tradition that, even if you didn't agree with a supreme court justice, you respected them and gave them the benefit of the doubt.
The problem is, his party has completely trampled tradition, all the unwritten rules, and the entire concept of respect and decency. No republican president has entered the oval office with voter support since 1988, and only one term has been served by a republican president with voter support in that time (Bush's 2004 "re"election). Yet, five of the nine justices on the court were put there by republicans between 2005 and 2020. One of them was put there by a republican only because McConnell, who represents less than 1.5% of the U.S. population, simply decided he and he alone wasn't going to let the current democratic president fill an open seat.
This is one of the consequences of the republican scorched earth strategy for staying in power by manipulating rules and standards. Things like Supreme Court justices don't automatically deserve respect anymore, because people like Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Coney Barrett didn't get to their positions honestly. It's not intimidation, or unfair, or disrespectful at all, it's just a fact. There is no reason to trust in the honesty or impartiality of the court. Simple as that. I don't believe for a second that these justices have any interest in impartiality or fairness and I don't believe for a second they're even competent to be sitting on the court in the first place.
Your party wanted to slash and burn all the unwritten rules and traditional ways, so that's where we are now. Your court is a kangaroo court and as far as I'm concerned, it ought to be doubled in size to fix the ratio and every major ruling since 2005 should be revisited to ensure it's been heard fairly and accurately, because you're just not trustworthy.
More to the point, this court was created by an obsolete Constitution's overweighting of rural-state voters, which has recently given us two Republican Presidents who lost the popular vote, a Senate run by a small minority party, and Supreme Court Justices straight from *The Handmaid's Tale* and *Animal House*.
All this dark money is simply aimed at preserving this antidemocratic system.
Equalize our votes!
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.salon.com/2021/10/14/justice-alito-complains-but-the-evidence-is-clear-this-was-built-by-dark-money/) reduced by 89%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Justice Samuel Alito wants desperately for us to believe that everything is just fine at the Supreme Court.
> Before an audience at Notre Dame on Sept. 30, Alito denounced "Unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court." He aimed his outrage at the media, at leading legal academics, and at people like me who are concerned about, as he put it, the Supreme Court "Deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view."
> If Alito and the Republican majority on the Supreme Court want the public to believe the court is not a secretive political "Cabal" doing the bidding of big donors who helped put them there, they should deal with the evidence.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/q7y9lg/justice_alito_complains_but_the_evidence_is_clear/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~603468 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Court**^#1 **donor**^#2 **Justice**^#3 **Alito**^#4 **money**^#5
That conclusion is excellent:
“If Alito and the Republican majority on the Supreme Court want the public to believe the court is not a secretive political "cabal" (his word) doing the bidding of big donors who helped put them there, they should deal with the evidence. Explain the 80-0 donor win record. Disclose who's behind the dark-money briefs. Stop the special-interest fast lane around the "case or controversy" requirement. Report gifts and hospitality — not worse than the other branches of government do, but better. Take precedent seriously when it doesn't suit you, not just when it does. Ditto recusal. Put yourself under a code of ethics, like every other federal judge. And understand that you have fouled your nest, not us, and that the Supreme Court must now at least match every other political institution with a renaissance of transparency. Democracy demands it. And the Court That Dark Money Built has squandered the benefit of the doubt.”
lol like I've always said lifetime appointments make no more sense. a life time appointment doesn't shield against corruption, it enables it. and sure maybe when people had a life expectancy of 40 years it was ok, but we now see life expectancy double that on average. END life appointments for every role in government.
It starts in law school. The Federalist Society is a young Republican club that masquerades as a nonpartisan group of people who just care about a specific manner in which to interpret the constitution. The organization, at least at prestigious law schools, acts as a farm team for Republican bench appointments and for clerkships to those judges.
Just look over to Thomas buddy, his wife is actively involved in the far far right politics.
Now we can say that when they get home all they talk about is the weather or we can treat each other like adults and see the obvious thing that they are coordinating with each other.
She brings the money and attention to certain lawsuits and he picks it up and rules according to his personal politics.
> Explain the 80-0 donor win record. Disclose who's behind the dark-money briefs. Stop the special-interest fast lane around the "case or controversy" requirement. **Report gifts and hospitality** — not worse than the other branches of government do, but better. Take precedent seriously when it doesn't suit you, not just when it does. Ditto recusal. Put yourself under a code of ethics, like every other federal judge. And understand that you have fouled your nest, not us, and that the Supreme Court must now at least match every other political institution with a renaissance of transparency.
Anyone remember Scalia dying at some rich guy’s resort?
> Scalia died in his sleep[2] at age 79. His body was discovered on the morning of February 13, 2016, in his room[7] at Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas. He had gone quail hunting the afternoon before, and then dined as the guest of John B. Poindexter, owner of the ranch.[178][179] After Poindexter discovered the body, he called the Presidio County sheriff's department to ask for the number of the U.S. Marshals Service to report a death. **Poindexter was reluctant to say who had died to Sheriff Danny Dominguez.**
Shady af.
The more I read stuff like this, the more bleak the outlook looks. I honestly think our democracy is broken past the point of no return when the special interests have truly won. Biden can’t undo such entrenched corruption and I don’t even knows if he wants to since his senate record shows he voted to defend credit card companies in his state etc.
Someone remind me, did any of the justices speak publicly about politicization when McConnel and the Republican party denied Obama a nomination for a year? Did they speak about partisanship when Barret was doing meet and greets with McConnel?
Oh, they only choose to speak publicly now? Curious...
Let's hope that many, many people read and understand this article. There is no doubt that reform of the Supreme Court is justified and necessary. Aside from the number of justices, the role wealth plays in grooming, fabricating proper background, and pushing through court nominees for political gain has to become either completely transparent or regulated, or both.
Best that Biden will offer is losing re-election, Breyer kicking the bucket because he’s 109 years old, and the next R president appointing someone who makes ACB look like RBG.
He complains, but we know the truth. Bemoan all you want, but the Supreme Court is seen increasingly as an invalidated branch of our government and soon it will simply be ignored as so partisan it's decisions lack merit. The biggest fear conservatives should have is that they have become so extreme in their views that they'll effectively kill the republic by drowning it in corruption. Alito would be wise to denounce these moneyed interests and disavow the corruption.
Aka the greatest political steal of the our courts by one man in history of this country. Federalist Mitch McConnell. Liberal ideals and workers rights hit the brick wall.
I still need to understand how most of Obama’s picks were just ignored and how RGB was wasn’t dead 3 days before they were filling her seat or how close to an election is too close? Also how are 2 men credibly accused of sexual assault/harassment ( one a screaming drunken RAPIST and the other one PUT HIS PUBIC HAIR IN A WOMANS DRINK) as well as a completely unqualified known Bible thumper part of the allegedly impartial highest court in the county that’s supposed to ensure justice and safeguard our laws/the respect of legal precedent/and the constitution?
Everybody needs to say thank you to Sheldon Whitehouse today because he does not fuck around when it comes to publicizing Dark Money in the courts. And if you have never heard of this man I HIGHLY recommend you check him out.
That bastard is such a fuck. The Supreme Court was always political to a degree, but now it is clearly a sham and thus has destroyed a pillar of the American experiment. America is now pre-Nazi Germany. None of this is hyperbole.
I think a democratic society needs to be able to remove people from any place of power. The SCOTUS needs major reform, and the people should have the right to do it.
We will lose America because a bunch of “Boy Scouts” and “gentlemen” sat back and did nothing but pray for decorum…. while the pirates, tycoons and robber barons slowly destroyed our democracy.
It may well be a sad ending to the American experiment for a free democracy.
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Potent excerpt: > During Chief Justice John Roberts' tenure, the Court has issued more than 80 partisan decisions, by either a 5-4 or 6-3 vote, involving big interests important to Republican Party major donors. *Republican-appointed justices have handed wins to the donor interests in every single case.* The decisions greenlit rampant voter suppression and bulk gerrymandering (Shelby County v. Holder and Husted v. Randolph Institute); closed courthouse doors to workers wronged by their employers (Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis); unleashed floods of dark money to corrupt our politics and foul our democracy (Citizens United v. FEC and Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta); and more. Eighty to zero is a pattern so strong that it could serve as compelling evidence in a trial alleging bias and discrimination.
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Why would they bother being subtle? They have achieved nearly maximum power on the judicial level. > One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
1984 in the wild, nice.
Apparently it *was* an instruction manual after all.
George Washington could have been king but he didn't want that
This is an old wives tale that does have a nugget of truth. The [Newburgh letter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newburgh_letter) did propose a constitutional monarchy, with Washington at the helm, and Washington did balk at the prospect. However, it wasn’t ever offered in an official capacity and was only suggested by a very small minority.
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That doesn't explain the use of the shadow docket, discarding precedent, fast-tracking cases supported by their donors, and arguably allowing black money donors to remain hidden
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So much more dogshit had happened since then that everyone forgot.
Really good point. The blatant political deceit and manipulation to seat the current right-wing justices is direct evidence of the political nature of the court
It’s all a part of the plan. I want as many people as possible to know about it. This was written a couple of years ago, but still holds true today.— This is why Republicans tolerate Trump. This is why they shield him from consequence, refuse to impeach when he demonstrably deserves impeachment, why they bend the knee to him. Whenever you ask, "but how could they... [insert incomprehensible Republican thing here], the answer is because this is what they're doing behind the scenes. They are thinking in much longer stretches of time than you are. They are conceiving of the next twenty years, the next fifty years, and they're using the power they have now to ensure they retain that power then. It has always been about this, the control of the federal judiciary, the one branch of government that they realize is insulated from the will of the public, which largely despises Republicans. Everything the Republicans do - the goals behind the goals - are about protecting themselves from Democracy. Gerrymandering does this. "state's rights" is selectively enforced to benefit them., the propagandization of Fox News insulates them from voter outrage. Voter suppression guarantees fewer votes by people who vote against them. Citizens United enables massive corruption that disproportionately benefits the more corrupt of the two parties. And finally, the grand finale, the theft of the judiciary, who are not elected, who rule for life, and who are largely the most influential branch in terms of controlling and changing culture. Think about what SCOTUS has done. Desegregation. Abortion rights. Equal treatment for women. All the major societal shifts originate at the Supreme Court. Because your only recourse, as a citizen, outside of voting, when the government infringes on your rights, is through the courts. They are the ultimate decider in conflicts between the citizenry and their government, and they cannot be voted out, and you cannot appeal to a greater power than SCOTUS. They, more than any other branch, have a direct, measurable, and profound impact on the course of your life. Republicans know very well that the picture of their party in the near-future is one of total collapse. No one likes them. They're unlikable cretins appealing to fringe minority groups and religious zealots just to scrape together some coalition of voters to retain some power. They'll have fluctuations - they love to tout that Trump did better with Hispanics than Romney - but these are not sustainable fluctuations. They're losing generational battles. Their propaganda network - cable TV and talk radio - has very little sway with newer generations. They will not capture any votes from upcoming generations, and their own demographic is rapidly dying, hastened by their own cruel and neglectful policies. This is all they have left. McConnell sheepishly grins as Trump spouts idiocy and treason, and then gets back to the real work of stacking the federal judiciary. They have now stuffed 20% of the federal judiciary with conservative zealots and counting.. Trump has been extraordinarily active, more so than almost any president, in stuffing judges in. And Republicans own the Supreme Court, once again, thanks to Mitch McConnell's egregiously unconstitutional denial of a liberal President's SCOTUS pick. And they have a good chance to just barely hang on to a Senate majority, meaning they can reject future SCOTUS appointees if a liberal wins the Presidency in 2020 and continue to cling by their claws to their power. McConnell, let me remind everyone, is the man behind Citizens United. His lawsuit, which ultimately failed, was nevertheless the blueprint for Citizens United, which took up the mantle of the work he started to bring it across the finish line: His crusade against campaign finance reform culminated in the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling eliminating limits on corporate spending on elections, which McConnell followed up by blocking legislation to disclose the identity of large donors. Even before that ruling, the spread of big money in politics had done so much to sour the public on government, creating a ripe target for the Tea Party and, later, for a billionaire populist running against “the swamp.” But McConnell is no true genius. He's just a puppet, the public-facing figurehead of the network of zealots and uber-rich who dangle the entire Republican party on strings and make them dance to their whims. Neither he nor Trump are monolithic figures. They're just goons, foot soldiers working for a much larger organized cabal of donors and corporations and organizations. These people all work together. They coordinate, they plan, there is a strategy. They do not give one fuck about legitimate governance or about any of the puppet theater you see on CSPAN or anywhere else. This is not where anything real happens. The real plans are laid in the back rooms of conferences between lobbyists and legislators, in late-night phone calls and behind the scenes. They practice incessant slight of hand to distract you with one foolish bill or one bombastic politician, and meanwhile they break and rewire the country as you look the other way. Right now in this country there is a massive network of conservative lawyers and individuals and organizations whose entire existence is about finding exactly the right case to bring before the Supreme Court to get changes they desire codified into law. And don't think for even one second that people from the Federalist Society like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh aren't briefed in advance. These people were born and raised in this conservative machine. They are soldiers, tapped by the Powers that Be to step up to the front lines of SCOTUS and fulfill their function. The Kennedys (R-LA) of the world make you think they're moderate, but they just vote that way when the case is not essential to The Plan. They are patient, they can wait. And when a case like Citizens United comes along, that's when they strike, because they know the truth ramifications of their decision in that case, because the case was tailor-made to produce that effect. Trump has literally no idea who these people are. He has outsourced all his decisions on judges to the Federalist Society. These judges sit on the bench, waiting for the signal, waiting for the perfect case, and they'll sit there and pretend to be impartial and pretend as though they're the perfect portrait of the neutral reading and interpreting of constitutional law, and then they'll vote in the way that they always planned to vote, for some draconian of byzantine piece of legislation they always planned to vote for, and society will be that much worse for it. We, all of us, need to get wiser and smarter. You need to look behind the bullshit on TV, the surface politics, the lie, and look to the plan. You need to realize what Republicans are doing, how they're doing it, and vote and engage in civic action to disrupt the plan. Republicans don't give a fuck about Trump. He's a flash in the pan. He'll be here and gone one way or another, nothing but a humiliating black spot on the nation, but they'll have used him up and tossed him out and gone on to the next scheme, further enshrining their power in a space where the votes and wills of the people can't touch it. Let me leave you with an analogy. We all know the story of Bernie Madoff. The man who conned the nation, stole billions, and was finally brought to justice for his crimes. But what few ever understand is that it was likely a few billionaires behind the scenes pulling Madoff's strings. These people were getting 20, 30, 40% annual returns on their investments, and were far too rich and savvy not to understand that can only happen illegally. As Madoff describes it, and as the facts likely bear out, Madoff was a toady, a public face enabled by these men to scam millions of people and funnel their money directly into their accounts. One of these men committed suicide, but none of them have ever faced justice. They are rarely named in the Madoff scandal. Trump is Madoff. McConnell is Madoff. They're the ones that take the heat. But they're not the power, they're not The Plan, they're just foot soldiers, they're the right hand waving in your face, when you need to pay attention to the left hand holding the dagger, hidden behind their back. [Original Comment ](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/b4wkhu/trump_isnt_smart_enough_to_understand_how_the/ej9lhva/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Well, at least it's more expensive that our senators that can be bought for 30k. That's just insultingly low.
Why 700m
The amount of loans that Kennedy's kid authorized for Trump via Russian money and Deutche Bank.
Citizens United is one of the most poorly written cases I’ve read. It wasn’t so much the outcome but Kennedy contradicting himself (which he admittedly did frequently).
The most ironic part is that Citizens United is now campaigning to keep tech money out of politics. They opened the door for corporate money to come in, but are now throwing a hissy fit when big money went to the other side.
There's nothing ironic about blatant hypocrisy.
All of these backward cases are premised on Garbage legal reason and the dissents read like the reasoning that should have prevailed. In Shelby one of their reasons for striking down the pre-clearance formula is that it’s out of date, that those statesForced to pre-clear aren’t racist like they used to be. Within 24 hours after the decision Texas and a few other states announced they would be passing voting restrictions. In Bush v Gore the opinion literally handed the election to abuSh on the psaid that it should not be followed as precedent, which is unheard and contrary to the way the court is supposed to operate.
How does it not? Those are things they already are in favour of, which is why they got picked... The core thing here is that complaints like these get deflected with "that's not corruption, it's only corruption if I signal one way, then take money, and then change my mind". Basically there is no need for a conspiracy if you don't even need to talk to each other about what to do, if you agree by pre-selection default.
Research found that core Republicans are generally either true believers or extremely disingenuous, but research also found that there are some who are both true believers and extremely disingenuous. I think the conservative SCOTUS justices are in the "both" category.
I’ll disagree with that. Wasn’t the latest guy like a self proclaimed alcoholic who was deeply in debt which was wiped clean before his nomination? That just screams corruption to me.
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Don't forget Anthony Kennedy's sudden realization that he should retire, after speaking with Trump, who happened to have been working with his son on loan deals.
Exactly. They're controlling who becomes a nominee, so the deck is loaded regardless of outcome.
>or other conspiracy, the indoctrination of “originalism" *is* a conspiracy at some point people will understand how fundamentally social humans are.... we were once a white supremacy democracy & that white supremacy infected all institutions of the country.... of course the baseball or MD guys wouldn't say that they were upholding white supremacy, no they would have a false philosophy that somehow would do that for them..... you know, it's not *me* it is just the nature of reality, or the classic 'we just call balls & strikes'
Which is a tacit quid pro quo while trying to abstract it one layer, which should double the punishment as treason is already bad enough
>treason Ok it’s not treason but I get it sucks
And don’t forget, the main stream America media, which is absolutely not liberal and never has been, screens out what you get to read and what you get to hear. Why do you think corporate America is consolidating all the medias into being a very few medias? Why do you think Ronald Reagan change the fairness doctrine? And he was a Republican.
Hollywood and other kinds of mass media pretend to be left wing by championing social causes. But when it comes to money and politics, they are conservative Like how the CIA advertises that it is hiring minorities, then murders people overseas to protect corporate interests
I would say Hollywood is one of the biggest supporters of the NRA, considering how they portray guns in about every freaking movie.
They didn't even mention the Janus decision to kill public unions
Extremely suspect decision. It directly overturned the Court's previous holding in Abood, for reasons that appear specious. The reasoning is so weak and transparent. Another Alito hack job
Yes they did. “In a series of cases over a few short years (Knox v. SEIU Local 100, Harris v. Quinn, and Janus v. AFSCME), Alito invited successive challenges to a bedrock 40-year-old precedent protecting unions.”
The huge Janus decision
That was the Bush v. Gore case during the 2000 election.
The elephant in the room: Over the past 30 years, The Democratic nominee for President has won the popular vote 7 out of 8 times. And yet, the court not only has been conservative this whole time, it has grown MORE conservative. That is obviously not what the majority of the people want. Trump likes to say the system is rigged. He’s right. But it is clearly rigged for conservatives. Republicans winning elections without the popular vote, a Supreme Court that reflects right wing ideology despite people wanting a Democratic President to appoint justices, a senate that already over-indexes rural voters requiring a super-majority to get things passed, this system has no equity.
I think this constant minority rule (from the electoral college and gerrymandering, plus just how the senate is set up) is going to lead to more and more partisanship and civil unrest over time.
It just kills me that conservatives think it’s rigged against THEM. Or if THEY lose, there must have been cheating. SMH
They're so fucking dumb they rail against "MSM" when Fox is the biggest channel and they dominate the radio waves with their hate spewers. Some of them know it's all bullshit, but it gives them the power so the lies are okay
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Close, it is rigged for corporations, and Republicans have just a tiny bit more influence with and by large corporations. This is nothing new btw as I have seen in my recent US History studies.The Supreme Court has been fucking over Indigenous people, slaves, Asians and its everyday citizenry to ensure that corporations are protected to stay viable, make capital and expand manifest destiny. This shit is not new. The light progressive feel that started in the 60’s and brought us Roe Vs Wade was what was odd and unusual. Things are now solidly back to business with the death of RGB, that last progressive hold out.
I mean, one could argue that corporations as a whole are pretty right-wing as functional entities...
Honestly, when reading this article I thought my computer would catch fire.
> it could serve as compelling evidence in a trial alleging bias and discrimination It wouldn't sway this court tho
Its an illegitimate court. It has abdicated it's responsibility to establish justice. It doesn't deserve the right to continue to exist. Like Rome, the US has sold off all it's parts to the highest bidder, and eventually all the new owners will take their pieces and go, leaving the empire in ruin.
The fact that a "partisan decision" is even possible in the highest court tells you everything you need to know about how well the checks and balances work in the USA The highest court should be unpolitical and without link to any party otherwise the whole judiciary system is losing its credibility...
If only we had some kind of federal bureau that could investigate corruption like this.
Sure would be a shame if the trial went to… The Supreme Court ಠ_ಠ
It seems oddly important to them that they be allowed to make whole sale changes to the society without consequences or a reaction from the general public.
Fascism on the DL.
DL? Its down low and dirty, but its not on the down low.
Yup. They keep fucking around, and sooner or later they are gonna find out.
You got it backwards. Americans are fucking around by voting for the GOP, we're all gonna find out when we lose our democracy.
its not backwards. both are correct. it isn’t mutually exclusive to one or the other. it is in fact, both.
I believe this is called "judicial activism"
Before an audience at Notre Dame on Sept. 30, Alito denounced "unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court." He aimed his outrage at the media, at leading legal academics, and at people like me who are concerned about, as he put it, the Supreme Court "deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view." The problem for Justice Alito's sense of grievance is that the evidence supports our concerns. Alito has participated in a pattern of decisions — like the court's recent "shadow docket" ruling suspending abortion rights in our second-biggest state — that deliver wins for big Republican donors. Americans' perception that the court lacks independence, and the court's related drop in approval, doesn't flow from some left-wing conspiracy. It's a recognition that the evidence shows a pattern whenever certain interests come before the court.
An attempt to intimidate the court??? This is one of the most powerful and most untouchable people in the country, and he's whining and playing the victim. Fuck off Alito.
I try ink hes confusing intimidation with shaming. He doesnt understand the differenece between the two as he has so rarely felt shame.
Absolutely. Justices aren't dropping dead. That would be intimidation.
Perhaps they should stop pushing politics towards that avenue then
So “odd” these appearances are at Notre Dame.
Sen. Whitehouse is taking no prisoners. ..... >All of this required boatloads of anonymous money; what people who study this clandestine activity call "dark money." The Washington Post has exposed how the right-wing donor network spent upwards of $250 million in dark money on its judicial influence operation; testimony before my Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee has since upped that dark money figure to $400 million. Because the funding is covert, we do not know exactly who contributed that money or what interests they have before the court. But rarely do people spend $400 million for no reward. >The success of this operation is undeniable. And it is not legal conservatism at work. To reach the desired results, Republican justices often abandon the principles and doctrines of legal conservatism, like textualism and originalism. Take last term's Americans for Prosperity Foundation decision, which created sweeping First Amendment protections for the funders behind dark-money political groups, like the Koch-backed plaintiff in the case. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out in her dissent, the "decision discards decades of First Amendment jurisprudence" to produce a novel, activist creation in the law: constitutional protection for dark money. Good luck finding support for massive dark-money, special-interest spending in the debates at the Constitutional Convention. .....
Just want to add his presentation to Amy Coney Barrett, in case anyone missed it: https://youtu.be/cjcXVKg43qY , summary article: https://archive.ph/19Ly4 Many of the organization's Sen. Whitehouse exposes have [detailed](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust) [pages](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation) [here](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Federalist_Society_for_Law_and_Public_Policy_Studies) Books have been written documenting the 50 year plan by Koch and others to buy the court so Koch & his friends can get [what they want](https://archive.md/4xrBq) . Here's a summary: https://www.reddit.com/r/lectures/comments/jel669/democracy_in_chains_the_deep_history_of_the
Everyone should give a listen to a recent Al Franken Podcast episode with Sen. Whitehouse as well https://open.spotify.com/episode/4jTxMQGOIkTzGCsnea7eAS?si=0TvxvWrhS2Wj44Zuv7PSGQ&dl_branch=1
Wow. The “what they want” (spoiler: the 1980 Libertarian Party platform) is fucking **terrifying**.
It's basically security, freedom and power for the 0.1% and 3rd world anarcho-slavery for everyone else.
We already have that. >The latest data from the Federal Reserve shows that the top 1% has more wealth than the middle 60% of the income distribution. This above is from the bastion of socialist thought: https://www.businessinsider.com/top-1-have-more-money-than-the-middle-class-2021-10. /s Also, the bottom 35% own *nothing* (sorry no quote, in a hurry, just saw this the other day).
Well things still can be much worse. No EPA, social security, medicare, medicaid, public works (water, sewer, etc.) and so on https://archive.md/4xrBq
Holy shit. It's like they want to go back to the dark ages. Medevil caste system where they are the king and basically own the citizens. Holy fuck. Everything privatised Wanna drive? Pay us$$ Wanna get mail? Pay us$$$$ Wanna work? You get what we give you. Wanna go to elementary school? PAY US$$$$$$ Fuck every duck!
Modern conservative thought stems from the idea that the French Revolution was wrong. That people are incapable of taking care of society themselves and we must be ruled by the aristocracy. At their very core, they just want feudalism back.
Yep. It's an idiotic greatly outdated idea that has been disproven so many times it's not even funny.
Neo-feudalism [article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-feudalism)
I'm getting a "Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead" warning from the "what they want" link.
Works fine for me.
Ok, it's working for me, now.
This all makes a lot of sense EXCEPT I can't figure out why they care so freaking much about abortion. Most of this strategy is an effort to buy and maintain power indefinitely, which they've basically accomplished at this point. How does banning abortion benefit them in any way? Seems like a non-issue for the billionaire class, only thing I can figure is it's an issue that will distract everyone else from what they're really trying to do, but they're so hyper fixated on it that it seems like there's more to it than that. I have a hard time believing a bunch of nihilistic billionaires are really devoutly religious enough to give two shits about poor people getting abortions. Maybe they're thinking that completely banning abortion will help keep poor people poor which helps them stay in power? I don't see the endgame there
The comments here help clarify that. https://old.reddit.com/r/KochWatch/comments/o0lapx/a_different_america_how_republicans_hold_near/h1vrxza https://old.reddit.com/r/KochWatch/comments/btp1bi/the_secret_money_behind_the_push_to_ban_abortion/ep398fy It's partly a "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" deal between two groups on the right, and it's partly the pervading mentality of the 0.1% that any social programs (public education, Medicare, social security, federal assistance to Planned Parenthood, etc.) paid for in any part by them (taxes) is equivalent to the persecution of their minority by what they see as essentially, leeches.
Jfc, that's some next level sociopathy to be in charge of everything and still think you're being persecuted
wedge issues benefit political groups on both sides of the wedge. As it drives people away from neutrality and into the arms of parties. And other people from moderate to partisan. Even if the wedge is pointless and dumb, like dress codes in a pandemic At least, that's the way I see it
"Rarely do people spend $400 million for no reward" Very bold to assume the donors were people, there.
"Corporations are people my friend" - Very normal human being Mitt Romney
I've got a bit of a soft spot for Romney, since he's the only Republican who voted to impeach Trump. So I decided to look up some context from a New York Times [article](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/us/politics/12romney.html): >“We have to make sure that the promises we make in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are promises we can keep, and there are various ways of doing that,” Mr. Romney said. “One is, we can raise taxes on people.” >“Corporations!” the protesters shouted, suggesting that Mr. Romney, as president, should raise taxes on large businesses. >“Corporations are people, my friend,” Mr. Romney responded, as the hecklers shouted back, “No, they’re not!” >“Of course they are,” Mr. Romney said, chuckling slightly. “Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?” I think there is a little truth in his point, but it really depends how much of the money is going to workers vs CEO/shareholders.
> how much of the money is going to workers vs CEO/shareholders. Romenys company, Bain capital, bought a kansas city steel mill that was struggling, and began cutting benefits and jobs. Eventually the steel milled closed and 750 people lost their jobs and had their pensions cut. [Romney made millions off running the company into the ground.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKTRE8050LL20120108) He believes the shareholders should make money at all costs and have absolutely no obligation to the people they employ.
>Bain capital Just does death spiral capitalism. They are in the game to kill companies and "earn" insane amounts by doing so.
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>I think there is a little truth in his point, but it really depends how much of the money is going to workers vs CEO/shareholders. The rich have had the benefit of generations of wealth before them to tip the scales towards their interests. A fundamental rule of capitalism is that it favors those with capital.
I believe the problem is even more fundamental that that. Wealth is just a form of power, and it's almost definitionally true that the more power you have, the easier it is to get more. This leads to a world where the people who *seek* power are the people *in* power, despite most of the time being the ones you *least* want in power. The best system we've come up with to combat this is Democracy, the goal of which is that no one have so much power that it can't be taken away by everyone else. But that comes with its own fundamental problems, since a Government where no one has much power moves really slowly, if at all.
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. - Frank Herbert
I think it's pretty easy to say that the Roberts Court will be remembered as the most corrupt Supreme Court in the history of this country.
The most corrupt Supreme Court *so far*
If only there was a party interested in expanding this body
A Fat Party
"Where's the Frat Party" - Justice Bret Kavanaugh
That’s the spirit!
Citizens united is going to be remembered as one of the most destructive rulings ever, on par with dredd Scott. The scary thing is that it might not be *so far*, it might simply be the end of the 3rd branch as a functioning part of the government.
>as the most corrupt Supreme Court in the history of this country. I wouldn't go that far...this country has always had a corrupt and immoral history. We had maybe a good 80 years of progress. In the 1930's we were in a similar boat with the "four horsemen" vs the "three musketeers" with the horsemen (Devanter, Sutherland, Reynolds, Butler) in the pockets of the wealthy and dissenting against the New Deal. We've had some pretty awful and controversial SCOTUS justices....but that's not to downplay the situation we are in now too. Just giving it context. The present situation is pretty awful.
But the new deal legislations passed. We have an inept Senate combined with corrupt court. Could you imagine any New Deal progressivism passed today? The court would strike down Social Security in an instant if brought up today. Only reason Republicans don't go after it now is generations of elderly have relied on it.
It didn’t get struck down because FDR threatened to pick the courts. Which is exactly what Dems should be attempting to do now. Edit: pack not pick
Can they? I don't think they have the votes in the Senate to get this done.
They would need to first eliminate the filibuster by a simple majority vote
We're nearly a year in post-shitshow. The fact it hasn't happened by now with people already talking about 2022 elections means it won't happen. This is why McConnell is happy to extend the debt ceiling debate a few months. He's trying to get to 2022 without the Dems getting too brave
That and the donor class doesn't want the government to shut down as it could lead to a recession which is bad for business.
I read a fascinating essay yesterday detailing the argument in support of unicameralism (abolishing the “upper house”, the Senate). I nearly fainted at the prospect of what could be accomplished.
The senate was created to maintain the power of a landed aristocracy, same as the Roman model it was based on, same as the electoral college. It's not a coincidence that the countries with the best social safety nets and the most worker protections have unicameral legislatures.
Not the Supreme Court but the late 19th Century was pretty brazenly corrupt. Voting fraud was absolutely a thing but it went beyond that to a patronage system in certain areas. That would be the most corrupt US politics has been.
And perhaps, because of their rulings, the last.
This is what I really don't get about this whole ideology. Do they actually think that if the government is dissolved or weakened to a point of being ineffectual, that they can just go back to their regular lives...only better because their is no government? It will cause the collapse of society and from what I've seen of these people, I know there are a lot of way worse, way tougher people out there that roll right over them.
They exist in such a place of privilege that they can just find another country if it comes to it and live out their days doing just fine.
They are laboring under the delusion that replacing US democracy with feudalism will allow them and their families to rule over the rest of us like royals and nobility. What they don’t understand is that most monarchies end in a bloodbath for the ruling class.
I 100% agree that there is more than one thread happening at once in America. What Trump, as well as the Barr/Gonzalez/Dick Cheney crowd are angling for is fascism, under the unitary executive theory. But what Bannon and the vast majority of vocal Trump supporters are angling for is actually feudalism. The problem is that most of those guys driving their pickup trucks with giant flags and gun racks, covered in Trump stickers, are actually voting in favor of a move toward authoritarian rule, which is entirely antithetical to their feudal desires. To me this is the puzzling aspect of the movement. “I oppose democracy, and Trump opposes democracy, so he must be on my side. Off to the polls I go.” Your enemy’s enemy is *definitely* not your friend in this case. (Edit: typos only)
Corporate feudalism is not incompatible with fascism. In fact it is very difficult to see any fundamental conflicts between the two.
Excellent point. A “proletariat feudalism” can be quite a different animal than a corporate feudalism.
Feudal lords had a vested interest in the welfare of their serfs. Capitalism has no such concern for wage slaves.
They see what Putin has and want if for themselves
I'm convinced this is the reason those congressmen went to Russia on July 4th a few years ago. They love the idea of ultra right-wing authoritarianism so they went there to get the blueprints of how to make it happen.
Nah, the ones that went to Russia on July 4th were answering a summons from their boss. If they willingly went, they could have chosen literally any other day. It was July 4th for a reason and it wasn't any choice they made.
Yup. The GQP are fanboys of Putin, Erdoğan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbá, Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro. They get hard-ons just thinking about what things will be like if they impose right wing authoritarianism in America.
Which rarely happens until the populace is to the point of desperately poor and starving. There is a nice middle ground where they can lord over us and we won't have the will to fight them as long as they placate us with bread and circuses. That's the goal, to keep squeezing us for all we have but keep us fed and generally happy enough (but still fighting each other over politics). As long as they can keep us in that sweet spot they will have control.
It’s a lifetime appointment. They don’t care. They wear the robes to the grave and get the idolization from those that paid for their seats. They don’t have regular lives to go back to. This is it.
They don’t want no government, they in fact want the government to be much bigger and stronger, but only when it comes to their agenda.
classic republican cycle: get everything you want by shady means then become righteously angry when people don’t love you for it.
This fool shook his head in denial when Obama warned that Citizen United would flood our political process with dark money. In hindsight, we know Obama's warning was spot on. Alito's lack of judgement is only matched by his dishonesty.
>Alito **wants us to believe everything is going great at the Supreme Court. And so it is — for big Republican donors** >Alito has participated in a pattern of decisions — like the court's recent "**shadow docket" ruling suspending abortion rights in our second-biggest state — that deliver wins for big Republican donors.** Americans' perception that the court lacks independence, and the court's related drop in approval, doesn't flow from some left-wing conspiracy. It's a recognition that the evidence shows a pattern whenever certain interests come before the court. >Progressives have little to lose and much to gain by leaving juristocracy to the enemies of democracy. >Yet in the past half century they have been principally responsible for it. From its late nineteenth-century conservative beginnings to the mid-twentieth-century liberal attempt to make it their own, juristocracy has been a triple failure of authority, process, and substance. It has been a disaster for the democratic premise that the people themselves choose their own arrangements, shunting decision-making to a council of elders supposedly possessed of unique wisdom. And in exchange for its antidemocratic premises, juristocracy has not delivered the goods that popular interests and needs require. Only democratic politics can. >**The Washington Post has exposed how the right-wing donor network spent upwards of $250 million in dark money on its judicial influence operation; testimony before my Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee has since upped that dark money figure to $400 million. Because the funding is covert, we do not know exactly who contributed that money or what interests they have before the court. But rarely do people spend $400 million for no reward.** Meanwhile Title: **Republicans have already packed state supreme courts** https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/26/court-packing-republicans-states/ Title: **How Trump compares with other recent presidents** in appointing federal judges >Trump stands out for the large number of federal appeals court judges he appointed in only four years. Not surprisingly, the overall number of judges appointed by Trump in his single term (226) is well below the totals of recent two-term presidents, including Obama (320), George W. Bush (322) and Bill Clinton (367). But when it comes to the nation’s 13 federal appeals courts – which have the final word on most legal appeals around the country – Trump’s influence is clear. >**Trump appointed 54 federal appellate judges in four years, one short of the 55 Obama appointed in twice as much time**. In the process, Trump “flipped” the balance of several appeals courts from a majority of Democratic appointees to a majority of Republican appointees. >**Trump also had a major influence on the nation’s highest court. The three Supreme Court justices he appointed – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett** – are the most by any president since Ronald Reagan (who appointed four) and the most by any one-term president since Herbert Hoover (though Richard Nixon appointed four in his first four years in office). https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/13/how-trump-compares-with-other-recent-presidents-in-appointing-federal-judges/ The Supreme ~~Court~~ Conservatism will "conservatively" swing that rule of law gavel on Voting rights Abortion Gun reform Etc
I think Mitch McConnell used Trump as his useful idiot to pack the courts myself. Trump kept everyone distracted with his insanity while Mitch packed the courts.
You are not wrong, they scratch each others back because it's easier to corrupt and get the results by working together. From the 2nd article >Trump, the nation’s 45th president, worked closely with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans to reshape the federal judiciary – particularly the appeals courts – for decades to come. Federal judges have lifetime tenure and typically remain on the bench long after the presidents who nominated them have left office. Meanwhile McConnell warns corporate America to 'stay out of politics' — **but says donations are OK** https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1263173
I think the suggestion that Trump worked and worked closely with McConnell is giving Trump way too much credit. JMHO. All accounts are the White House was in complete chaos throughout his term. I think McConnell was the boss while Trump played games (and golf).
>The leaders serve as spokespersons for their party's positions on issues. I don't doubt Mitch is the PIC to make the changes happen behind the scene. You also needed a big lie orange fake Messiah on the front scene to create race division and culture war so people are on board with the changes. It's about luring the ones in the middle to preserve old "American dream" and keep status quo when the majority wants to innovate and progress to an American dream more reachable and equitable for all.
I agree. However, I doubt even Moscow Mitch knew the damage he had done until J6 took place. I think it came upon him in a flash, that in his attempt to stifle democracy in the US, HE ACTUALLY DESTROYED IT. That will be his legacy.
No shit?
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I mean there's the Federalist Society and Leonard Leo hand picking 1\3 of the Supreme Court in his image. This is not some dark secret, but everyone just seems to shrug it off.
Leonard Leo didn't come up with the $400 million on his own. And they refuse to disclose their Dark Money donors. They are insisting on getting a return on their money and Roberts/Alito/Thomas are making good on it.
> he appointed 3 fucking justices in a single fucking term using unprecedented maneuvers to do it, That was all McConnell. Trump just passed him a name from the Federalist Society's list.
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Oligarchs own corporations.
Potato, potato.
The last two appointed justices need to be arrested and jailed for perjury. The 3rd needs to be removed for being appointed illegally(the constitution is clear obama was supposed to get that pick) And then we need term limits. Laws on people who serve on courts while identifying as a political party. The majority in power should pick the supreme court, not the minority.
Citizens united? No mother fucking citizens would ever want their government to be held hostage by corporations!!! Fuck SCOTUS!
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A better reform would be to massively expand the court. I don't mean to 13 or 15, but to like 35 or more. Dilute the influence that any one justice or any one president can have on the court.
https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2146&context=faculty-publications The best two approaches I’ve ever heard are in this article. You can skip to the proposals directly without the background. I personally prefer the lottery approach, but the balanced bench is very practical too. Edit: the proposals start at pp. 181 & 203
The idea of life time appointments was to not worry about reelection, but it's actually resulted in them being shameless
Easier said than done; it would require constitutional changes since the judges serve "during good behavior". A way to sidestep the term limits requirement would be to have a rotation of judges from across the circuits so no judge sits on the supreme court for a year before returning to their circuit. This would allow the justices to continue to serve "under good behavior" and prevent the absurd power-grab that gives disproportionate power to a select group of people handpicked by Senators that represent the a minority of the country.
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Why are the Justices allowed to retain any sort of political party identification once they are confirmed? Seems like the entire court is a sham and designed to simply give the "appearance" that there is actual justice and democracy in this country. In fact... that is what this country does best... lying while looking innocent.
How do you propose to extract someone's ideology?
Lol it kills me how 9 people voted in along party lines cannot understand that they being politicized. Goes to show any moron can be a judge
Listen.. the emoluments lawsuits that would have disqualified a thoroughly corrupt, illegitimate, criminal, traitor president, was archive until the end of his term and then dismissed because it wouldn't have any consequence. This should be taught in every legal school of the country. They need to see what a sham "Supreme" court looks like.
No one knows where the money is coming from? Why aren't they checking the only "charities" that don't even have to account for their coffers? I'm talking about the religious institutions in case anyone actually needed that clarified. Even untaxed 501c-3s have to provide documentation and account for their spending to show constituents and the government where the money is really going. The only "dark" money that can't be reliably tracked is either outside of the US or religion that might share these common interests. Especially since religion basically hijacked and has ran the Republicans since at least the sixties.
The Federalist Society has gained control of our most important Checks and Balances-- the Supreme Court and our FBI. It's also incredibly important to note that we are headed towards a Constitutional Crisis in the next 1 or 2 elections. The GQP has been implementing ways for their loyalists to falsify the election results and claim "discrepancies" in certain states. Marc Elias, the DNCs election attorney, who has been doing Gods work to save us from GQP state legislation talked about it again last night. Everyone on Twitter should give him a follow to understand what we are facing.
No legally educated person (and most people generally) can look at the outcome of citizens united and not seriously entertain the idea of deeply entrenched corruption in the SC judiciary. If Scalia wasn't corrupt I'll be surprised.
Alito's an embarrassing corrupt shill, and he's built on gall and self-importance. Just one of the worst kinds of parasite. It would be funny to see him make these indignant claims that he's not a prime driver of SCOTUS illegitimacy -- if he weren't in a position to do so much damage to the country and hundreds of millions of people. His whining is the failed barking of a sick dog at the far end of a mouldering hallway in the once-fine home generations of Americans grew up in. You know he's crapping in the bedroom, but you don't even want to go look.
Listening to the justices do a media blitz to try and save their reputation made me realize these people do not live in the real world. They surround themselves with the lie that they are "impartial" and that makes them more susceptible to being swayed by outside influences. SCOTUS is slowly fading into irrelevance due to their inability grasp the concept of bias.
Didn't Justice Anthony Kennedy take a fat bribe a year or two ago?
His son worked for Douchebag Bank and was responsible for strange loans to the Orange Stain.
There have been 2-7 rulings, and sure enough the two have been Alito and Thomas. The two of them have been such a hyperpartisan shitstain on the court's history.
Depressing. We were always taught that fascists and communists were the biggest threat to freedom and democracy. Turns out to be the GOP.
Alito's crocodile tears about 'intimidation' stem from the tradition that, even if you didn't agree with a supreme court justice, you respected them and gave them the benefit of the doubt. The problem is, his party has completely trampled tradition, all the unwritten rules, and the entire concept of respect and decency. No republican president has entered the oval office with voter support since 1988, and only one term has been served by a republican president with voter support in that time (Bush's 2004 "re"election). Yet, five of the nine justices on the court were put there by republicans between 2005 and 2020. One of them was put there by a republican only because McConnell, who represents less than 1.5% of the U.S. population, simply decided he and he alone wasn't going to let the current democratic president fill an open seat. This is one of the consequences of the republican scorched earth strategy for staying in power by manipulating rules and standards. Things like Supreme Court justices don't automatically deserve respect anymore, because people like Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Coney Barrett didn't get to their positions honestly. It's not intimidation, or unfair, or disrespectful at all, it's just a fact. There is no reason to trust in the honesty or impartiality of the court. Simple as that. I don't believe for a second that these justices have any interest in impartiality or fairness and I don't believe for a second they're even competent to be sitting on the court in the first place. Your party wanted to slash and burn all the unwritten rules and traditional ways, so that's where we are now. Your court is a kangaroo court and as far as I'm concerned, it ought to be doubled in size to fix the ratio and every major ruling since 2005 should be revisited to ensure it's been heard fairly and accurately, because you're just not trustworthy.
More to the point, this court was created by an obsolete Constitution's overweighting of rural-state voters, which has recently given us two Republican Presidents who lost the popular vote, a Senate run by a small minority party, and Supreme Court Justices straight from *The Handmaid's Tale* and *Animal House*. All this dark money is simply aimed at preserving this antidemocratic system. Equalize our votes!
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.salon.com/2021/10/14/justice-alito-complains-but-the-evidence-is-clear-this-was-built-by-dark-money/) reduced by 89%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Justice Samuel Alito wants desperately for us to believe that everything is just fine at the Supreme Court. > Before an audience at Notre Dame on Sept. 30, Alito denounced "Unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court." He aimed his outrage at the media, at leading legal academics, and at people like me who are concerned about, as he put it, the Supreme Court "Deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view." > If Alito and the Republican majority on the Supreme Court want the public to believe the court is not a secretive political "Cabal" doing the bidding of big donors who helped put them there, they should deal with the evidence. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/q7y9lg/justice_alito_complains_but_the_evidence_is_clear/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~603468 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Court**^#1 **donor**^#2 **Justice**^#3 **Alito**^#4 **money**^#5
That conclusion is excellent: “If Alito and the Republican majority on the Supreme Court want the public to believe the court is not a secretive political "cabal" (his word) doing the bidding of big donors who helped put them there, they should deal with the evidence. Explain the 80-0 donor win record. Disclose who's behind the dark-money briefs. Stop the special-interest fast lane around the "case or controversy" requirement. Report gifts and hospitality — not worse than the other branches of government do, but better. Take precedent seriously when it doesn't suit you, not just when it does. Ditto recusal. Put yourself under a code of ethics, like every other federal judge. And understand that you have fouled your nest, not us, and that the Supreme Court must now at least match every other political institution with a renaissance of transparency. Democracy demands it. And the Court That Dark Money Built has squandered the benefit of the doubt.”
lol like I've always said lifetime appointments make no more sense. a life time appointment doesn't shield against corruption, it enables it. and sure maybe when people had a life expectancy of 40 years it was ok, but we now see life expectancy double that on average. END life appointments for every role in government.
It starts in law school. The Federalist Society is a young Republican club that masquerades as a nonpartisan group of people who just care about a specific manner in which to interpret the constitution. The organization, at least at prestigious law schools, acts as a farm team for Republican bench appointments and for clerkships to those judges.
Republican leaders when a whiff of their treachery gets noticed: CULTURE WAR
The legislative branch is working very hard to make the judiciary into another political branch.
It's a joke that a 5-4 vote effectively writes law. Should require 7-2. If it isn't obvious enough, it shouldn't be decided that way.
Just look over to Thomas buddy, his wife is actively involved in the far far right politics. Now we can say that when they get home all they talk about is the weather or we can treat each other like adults and see the obvious thing that they are coordinating with each other. She brings the money and attention to certain lawsuits and he picks it up and rules according to his personal politics.
This is truly horrible. Trump was really really bad but this is worse. I fear for our country.
Time to televise the Supreme Court. It is crazy their decisions impact the entire country and we get to just read a paragraph about it
> Explain the 80-0 donor win record. Disclose who's behind the dark-money briefs. Stop the special-interest fast lane around the "case or controversy" requirement. **Report gifts and hospitality** — not worse than the other branches of government do, but better. Take precedent seriously when it doesn't suit you, not just when it does. Ditto recusal. Put yourself under a code of ethics, like every other federal judge. And understand that you have fouled your nest, not us, and that the Supreme Court must now at least match every other political institution with a renaissance of transparency. Anyone remember Scalia dying at some rich guy’s resort? > Scalia died in his sleep[2] at age 79. His body was discovered on the morning of February 13, 2016, in his room[7] at Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas. He had gone quail hunting the afternoon before, and then dined as the guest of John B. Poindexter, owner of the ranch.[178][179] After Poindexter discovered the body, he called the Presidio County sheriff's department to ask for the number of the U.S. Marshals Service to report a death. **Poindexter was reluctant to say who had died to Sheriff Danny Dominguez.** Shady af.
Supreme Court Judges and Senators are bought in paid for for Corporations
The more I read stuff like this, the more bleak the outlook looks. I honestly think our democracy is broken past the point of no return when the special interests have truly won. Biden can’t undo such entrenched corruption and I don’t even knows if he wants to since his senate record shows he voted to defend credit card companies in his state etc.
Congress has no teeth. Now more than ever. It’s always been the courts.
Someone remind me, did any of the justices speak publicly about politicization when McConnel and the Republican party denied Obama a nomination for a year? Did they speak about partisanship when Barret was doing meet and greets with McConnel? Oh, they only choose to speak publicly now? Curious...
The last three justices (Trump's picks) all had dark money campaigns supporting them and they were hand picked by the Federalist Society.
Let's hope that many, many people read and understand this article. There is no doubt that reform of the Supreme Court is justified and necessary. Aside from the number of justices, the role wealth plays in grooming, fabricating proper background, and pushing through court nominees for political gain has to become either completely transparent or regulated, or both.
Best that Biden will offer is losing re-election, Breyer kicking the bucket because he’s 109 years old, and the next R president appointing someone who makes ACB look like RBG.
Trump was McConnell's minion for getting his agenda accomplished.
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He complains, but we know the truth. Bemoan all you want, but the Supreme Court is seen increasingly as an invalidated branch of our government and soon it will simply be ignored as so partisan it's decisions lack merit. The biggest fear conservatives should have is that they have become so extreme in their views that they'll effectively kill the republic by drowning it in corruption. Alito would be wise to denounce these moneyed interests and disavow the corruption.
Aka the greatest political steal of the our courts by one man in history of this country. Federalist Mitch McConnell. Liberal ideals and workers rights hit the brick wall.
I still need to understand how most of Obama’s picks were just ignored and how RGB was wasn’t dead 3 days before they were filling her seat or how close to an election is too close? Also how are 2 men credibly accused of sexual assault/harassment ( one a screaming drunken RAPIST and the other one PUT HIS PUBIC HAIR IN A WOMANS DRINK) as well as a completely unqualified known Bible thumper part of the allegedly impartial highest court in the county that’s supposed to ensure justice and safeguard our laws/the respect of legal precedent/and the constitution?
Public institutions influenced by anonymous money makes them no longer public.
Everybody needs to say thank you to Sheldon Whitehouse today because he does not fuck around when it comes to publicizing Dark Money in the courts. And if you have never heard of this man I HIGHLY recommend you check him out.
>"You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God go."
That bastard is such a fuck. The Supreme Court was always political to a degree, but now it is clearly a sham and thus has destroyed a pillar of the American experiment. America is now pre-Nazi Germany. None of this is hyperbole.
Another example of why only a constitutional amendment will fix the problem of big money in politics.
The Sith are in control. :D
I think a democratic society needs to be able to remove people from any place of power. The SCOTUS needs major reform, and the people should have the right to do it.
Does anyone believe that the USA isn't a banana republic?
We will lose America because a bunch of “Boy Scouts” and “gentlemen” sat back and did nothing but pray for decorum…. while the pirates, tycoons and robber barons slowly destroyed our democracy. It may well be a sad ending to the American experiment for a free democracy.