So, I guess, when Alito said "Not true" to Barack Obama's portrayal of SCOTUS's Citizens United decision at the 2010 State of the Union address, he was just rehearsing his response to ProPublica's reporting on his six-figure fishing trip to Alaska. Wow, Sam: anything else that was "not true", like leaking the Dobbs decision months before it was set to be voted on, to make sure the other justices didn't change their mind?
Kagan didn’t accept a gift of bagels because she adhered to the no-gifts rule. Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from a case before SCOTUS involving Harvard because she is/was a trustee of the law school. Some of the justices seem to know that if it looks like they have a conflict, it would not reflect well on SCOTUS if they accepted any gifts, or did not recuse themselves.
What we have is a supreme court of very unimpressive people. The view that these individuals are intellectual titans, interpreting law is a myth. They really aren’t that smart. They’re ideological. This is how humans behave with an inflated view of self importance and no restraints.
Our government’s three branches were designed so that a ‘checks and balance’ system would be in place for each branch of our government individually- and collectively. It is obvious that this is NOT the case for our “not-so-Supreme Court”. Hopefully, the Judiciary committee in Congress will be all over this and will somehow, and in some way, step up the accountability of the Supreme Court. Senator Whitehouse has been leading the charge in this endeavor. Pro-Publica should be congratulated for their coverage. Although it may only be a pipe-dream, further investigation and proper accounting from the Court should not deter progress in setting things straight and providing NEW guard-rails for the Supreme Court. Given the breakdown of our Congress, this may never happen as our country’s path of self-destruction ensues, - and truth, integrity, honesty and accountability remain on the “soon to be extinct” list.
Why haven't Kagen and Sotomayor condemned Thomas's corruption and Alito's publicly? What have they got to lose? Surely they're not worried about losing votes, since it's unlikely the right wingers on the Court would ever agree with them in the first place.
Or is it that they, too, have been won over by that charming and lovable version of Clarence Thomas who only exists in insider accounts (or rumors) from the court building?
They can’t do that. It works both ways - justices can't be questioning each other's rulings because there is no recourse. They must maintain the integrity of the institution amongst a sea of bad actors. The question is - how many beyond two are bad actors? Y'all know, before this is all said and done, we are going to need to retry many cases, Citizens United being the first to come to mind. How many rulings need to be reviewed?
Roe is most urgent (life threatening), and easiest to restore, at this time...But Citizens s/b done asap also. However, I believe the ship has sailed on CU, the damage is done.
I haven't gone through the comments yet but the two things that screamed at me after watching this is: 1-what these guys did to our country with their vote on Citizens United, and 2- I doubt anyone has a question about who leaked to the WSJ, just before they demolished Roe vs Wade. It was Justice Alito.
I have only one thing to thank W and Donald Trump for. They forced me to learn about our government and how it works. Before W and Trump, I was a lazy citizen. I just went along with whatever, because, hey, what could possibly go wrong? Right? Even Clinton being impeached for lying about having sex and his subsequent impeachment didn’t wake me up.
But after W and especially after Trump, I became angry. I got involved. I learned about the constitution and our three separate, but equal branches of government. But even after my awakening, I never really paid any attention to the Supreme Court. I always figured they had to be above the fray. Boy…was I wrong.
If this Congress does not force substantive change on this body the next one will. It is my belief that the Republican assault on abortion rights, common sense gun reform, and climate change denial has awoken an unexpected and undeniable segment of this country that is going to vote in numbers too huge to deny in 2024. Change is coming. And if I were John Roberts I would get ready. Because his court of despicable conservatives owned by billionaires are going to be held accountable. Soon. Very soon.
We, the woke majority, are exhausted by you. All of you. And we vote. Basta.
Steve "I wish I knew how to quit you". One day I feel hope with your beautifully written pieces of our great country and then today, you give us this segment with ProPublica. I can't give you up though, keep up with the informative, spine-tingling articles that make a difference in this world.
Thank you for sharing your personal stories and engaging one on one with truth tellers. The behind the scenes reality of wealth/privilege within our political arena is as disheartening as it is painful.
"No Surprises" rule = symmetric response to the subject of a piece about someone who engages in asymmetrical warfare. Look at Alito's "prebuttal" response in the WSJ and tell me that's not so.
These people do not believe in ethics of any kind unless they are applied to someone else. I blame Roberts for that. The word for the WSJ headline is not "Orwellian," it's "Defamatory." Arkley also bought off Scalia, many times. He loves fishing trips, especially when he lands big fish like supreme court justices.
Excellent interview with an investigative reporter for an exemplary organization. Now..to shame the...y'know...the networks - into broadcasting this.
Oooh - here's an idea: edit the tape to include subliminal images of that orange face...or perhaps lead with, "When he resumes the presidency, one of President TRUMP's first actions will be..." and keep beating that drum...toss out the word "TRUMP" every few sentences...add in some innocuous-sounding language that would paint him into a corner if he were (horrors!) to win the electoral college and have his finger (shudder!) on that very big button...and fail to constrain the right, judicial and otherwise, with some ethical guardrails.
So, I guess, when Alito said "Not true" to Barack Obama's portrayal of SCOTUS's Citizens United decision at the 2010 State of the Union address, he was just rehearsing his response to ProPublica's reporting on his six-figure fishing trip to Alaska. Wow, Sam: anything else that was "not true", like leaking the Dobbs decision months before it was set to be voted on, to make sure the other justices didn't change their mind?
ProPublica is awesome.
Kagan didn’t accept a gift of bagels because she adhered to the no-gifts rule. Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from a case before SCOTUS involving Harvard because she is/was a trustee of the law school. Some of the justices seem to know that if it looks like they have a conflict, it would not reflect well on SCOTUS if they accepted any gifts, or did not recuse themselves.
What we have is a supreme court of very unimpressive people. The view that these individuals are intellectual titans, interpreting law is a myth. They really aren’t that smart. They’re ideological. This is how humans behave with an inflated view of self importance and no restraints.
GET NEW JUSTICES WHO DON'T TAKE TRIPS AND MONEY FROM BILLIONAIRES. MAKE TERM LIMITS AND LAWS TO REMOVE ANY JUSTICE WHO DOES THIS.
Thank you ProPublica and Steve Schmidt: please keep speaking loud and clear on this!
Our government’s three branches were designed so that a ‘checks and balance’ system would be in place for each branch of our government individually- and collectively. It is obvious that this is NOT the case for our “not-so-Supreme Court”. Hopefully, the Judiciary committee in Congress will be all over this and will somehow, and in some way, step up the accountability of the Supreme Court. Senator Whitehouse has been leading the charge in this endeavor. Pro-Publica should be congratulated for their coverage. Although it may only be a pipe-dream, further investigation and proper accounting from the Court should not deter progress in setting things straight and providing NEW guard-rails for the Supreme Court. Given the breakdown of our Congress, this may never happen as our country’s path of self-destruction ensues, - and truth, integrity, honesty and accountability remain on the “soon to be extinct” list.
Why haven't Kagen and Sotomayor condemned Thomas's corruption and Alito's publicly? What have they got to lose? Surely they're not worried about losing votes, since it's unlikely the right wingers on the Court would ever agree with them in the first place.
Or is it that they, too, have been won over by that charming and lovable version of Clarence Thomas who only exists in insider accounts (or rumors) from the court building?
They can’t do that. It works both ways - justices can't be questioning each other's rulings because there is no recourse. They must maintain the integrity of the institution amongst a sea of bad actors. The question is - how many beyond two are bad actors? Y'all know, before this is all said and done, we are going to need to retry many cases, Citizens United being the first to come to mind. How many rulings need to be reviewed?
Roe is most urgent (life threatening), and easiest to restore, at this time...But Citizens s/b done asap also. However, I believe the ship has sailed on CU, the damage is done.
I haven't gone through the comments yet but the two things that screamed at me after watching this is: 1-what these guys did to our country with their vote on Citizens United, and 2- I doubt anyone has a question about who leaked to the WSJ, just before they demolished Roe vs Wade. It was Justice Alito.
WOW, really cool episode. Very very happy to see this conversation.
I have only one thing to thank W and Donald Trump for. They forced me to learn about our government and how it works. Before W and Trump, I was a lazy citizen. I just went along with whatever, because, hey, what could possibly go wrong? Right? Even Clinton being impeached for lying about having sex and his subsequent impeachment didn’t wake me up.
But after W and especially after Trump, I became angry. I got involved. I learned about the constitution and our three separate, but equal branches of government. But even after my awakening, I never really paid any attention to the Supreme Court. I always figured they had to be above the fray. Boy…was I wrong.
If this Congress does not force substantive change on this body the next one will. It is my belief that the Republican assault on abortion rights, common sense gun reform, and climate change denial has awoken an unexpected and undeniable segment of this country that is going to vote in numbers too huge to deny in 2024. Change is coming. And if I were John Roberts I would get ready. Because his court of despicable conservatives owned by billionaires are going to be held accountable. Soon. Very soon.
We, the woke majority, are exhausted by you. All of you. And we vote. Basta.
That was an EXCELLENT conversation. Very interesting.
Steve "I wish I knew how to quit you". One day I feel hope with your beautifully written pieces of our great country and then today, you give us this segment with ProPublica. I can't give you up though, keep up with the informative, spine-tingling articles that make a difference in this world.
Thank you for sharing your personal stories and engaging one on one with truth tellers. The behind the scenes reality of wealth/privilege within our political arena is as disheartening as it is painful.
"No Surprises" rule = symmetric response to the subject of a piece about someone who engages in asymmetrical warfare. Look at Alito's "prebuttal" response in the WSJ and tell me that's not so.
These people do not believe in ethics of any kind unless they are applied to someone else. I blame Roberts for that. The word for the WSJ headline is not "Orwellian," it's "Defamatory." Arkley also bought off Scalia, many times. He loves fishing trips, especially when he lands big fish like supreme court justices.
Excellent interview with an investigative reporter for an exemplary organization. Now..to shame the...y'know...the networks - into broadcasting this.
Oooh - here's an idea: edit the tape to include subliminal images of that orange face...or perhaps lead with, "When he resumes the presidency, one of President TRUMP's first actions will be..." and keep beating that drum...toss out the word "TRUMP" every few sentences...add in some innocuous-sounding language that would paint him into a corner if he were (horrors!) to win the electoral college and have his finger (shudder!) on that very big button...and fail to constrain the right, judicial and otherwise, with some ethical guardrails.