Samuel Alito Is Wrong and Arrogant—and Must Be Reined In: The associate justice says Congress has no authority to regulate the Supreme Court. The Constitution he allegedly reveres says otherwise. A lot.

Good piece in TNR on an out-of-control justice who substitutes his will for the law and thinks ethics and accountability are for other people.

Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic that a dysfunctional Congress is up to the task.

#SCOTUS #SamuelAlito #Ethics

https://newrepublic.com/article/175403/samuel-alito-wrong-arrogant-supreme-court-ethics

Justice Samuel Alito rejects calls from Democratic senators to recuse in case involving "journalist" who interviewed him
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Not so much an interview, but a full on tongue-bath in the pages of the Wall Street Journal by David B. Rivkin Jr., a practicing lawyer with business before the court: Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court’s Plain-Spoken Defender.

#SCOTUS #SamuelAlito #DavidRivkin

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/08/politics/alito-durbin-supreme-court-ethics

@WizardBear @Teri_Kanefield I would think Congress should have the ability, perhaps even obligation, to define "good Behaviour," and that would include a code of ethics for the justices.
#SCOTUS #Ethics #SamuelAlito

Why does Clarence Thomas fly "free" on Billionaire Harlan Crow's private jet rather pay for seats on commercial airliners?

"In his disclosure, Justice Thomas addressed his decision to fly on Mr. Crow’s private jet, suggesting that he had been advised to avoid commercial travel after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion.

#SCOTUS #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #Corruption

Non-paywalled NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/us/thomas-financial-disclosures-scotus.html?unlocked_article_code=SedWZs2nOahEay4ubOsMv11D-RwgR0ZyHHObPadqs0TAgmRFKFqsvtXKxd6zW1WgRJ5Gs18aKPWlX1ekyRbB-Ra262WRra65YrNa0YZuJjLbbJYPbqbHfudTnBbEcXGNZZL9ce7HlWxMftCejLdujplXsDkfVPGdT1EKO9JjMeXw89CUgdz8DtdIlRGxFieqVyUetP8WH8jyJ6Bu389iuqMLOVeZoQjXHki-X5IwfvQMQigL3AMPLq5jOYc1kWtpQhqU2tE1vzq1BDRORA5937Q0Ksv7npFESWzONHf_j9vUvgSiTGh4J6LZHa3Hx00pgLK8qluvQIV4rewjjQYK4UjXZVVGO95b&smid=nytcore-android-share

Hey, Clarence, Sam: you know the surefire way to make it so that your "enemies" can't use #ethics arguments to beat you up?

Have really good, squeaky-clean ethics.

I mean, it's not a perfect defense -- the treatment of Joe Biden shows that political enemies will lie when they can't latch onto legitimate to attack with.

But it's a much better starting position to be in.

(A little humility wouldn't hurt, either.)

#SCOTUS #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4181847-thomas-alito-go-on-the-attack-over-supreme-court-ethics/

Supreme Court struggling to agree on ethics policy, Justice Kagan says
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Apparently, there's resistance to giving up expensive gifts from wealthy sugar daddies like billionaire political activist, tax haven citizen, and Hitler memorabilia collector, Harlan Crow.
#SCOTUS #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #HarlanCrow

Non-paywalled Washington Post
https://wapo.st/43TUu5R

@shepgo One possibility would be for Congress (perhaps a future Congress) to make funding for Supreme Court law clerks, and support staff, contingent upon the justices complying with a code of ethics.
#SCOTUS #Ethics #SamuelAlito #ClarenceThomas #Corruption

"Rivkin, as the [Wall Street] Journal interview disclosed, has a case pending before the court. It’s not a good look when one litigant has special access to a justice [Samuel Alito] — indeed, has lauded the justice as a 'plain-spoken defender.' Justices are going to have preexisting relationships with lawyers who appear before them — that’s inevitable — but granting this kind of access while a case is pending just doesn’t smell right."
#SCOTUS #SamuelAlito #Ethics

https://wapo.st/3rXp29u

Samuel Alito, perhaps the most politically outspoken Justice on the Supreme Court, and one who, like Justice Thomas, has received undisclosed gifts from billionaire sugar daddies, explains that, in his opinion, the Supreme Court is not bound by anti-corruption laws passed by Congress.
#SCOTUS #SamuelAlito #Graft
https://www.wsj.com/articles/samuel-alito-the-supreme-courts-plain-spoken-defender-precedent-ethics-originalism-5e3e9a7

Senators Ask Billionaire Paul Singer and Power Broker Leonard Leo for Full Accounting of Gifts to Supreme Court Justices
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Checks and balances doesn’t work if one branch is unwilling to confront the other.
#SCOTUS #SamuelAlito #LeonardLeo #PaulSinger #RobinArkleyII

https://www.propublica.org/article/senators-ask-paul-singer-leonard-leo-accounting-gifts-supreme-court

A Federal Judge Asks: Does the Supreme Court Realize How Bad It Smells?
...
"If reports are true, some of our justices are, sadly, letting us down."
#SCOTUS #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #Ethics

Non-paywalled New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/opinion/supreme-court-ethics.html?unlocked_article_code=nlVgZA2U-axFDqlEmLizmCQ3rYDi_3VaeoB_dRqwWXWcjgO9UVJhy4vJvZu9Btrx29HJ9P0Nf0B6sVrUNappPtel3ZDCap0j1Gb5Si3YI-_RvujaJvZrx9kFNWOSdzNZ7wC-8wqaeBWLyWnP-S_lz2cwuE9yY0IP7UQmdN0LPXlCqiIGCgCN0TUPwceZ7z5rsbJNc4jhePWkL2vZYNdISYIODEogLFf_17iWvM9BKIe3YbWXByH6U4q6pfTLl2J500jthsQVcMT5RV6RbHnkn5PgvNBENFatRcNc7vMM8m4xcOHqhokHj5jPvsk5fNsospujKmVyS5O6Y7fJ8Jo&smid=nytcore-android-share

America Has a Supreme Court Problem
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Does America need protection from a rogue
judiciary?
#Politics #SCOTUS #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #NeilGorsuch #HillaryClinton

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/07/supreme-court-legitimacy-crisis

The Tragedy of John Roberts
...
"But the larger story of this term has been one of ethical rot and official indifference. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas drew attention — not for the first time — for their close ties to wealthy benefactors who have business before the court. "
#SCOTUS #JohnRoberts #ClarenceThomas #NeilGorsuch #SamuelAlito

Non-paywalled NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/opinion/john-roberts-supreme-court.html?unlocked_article_code=MMgQzlLOukLOlTe4ZBrAcrlJG3k4CjZu-gtbEdy4Nvflfp-U5I9Zf03yAlXYc0JaJ_LRjOcx0p8feH7aDtdB3onFG15pJ-YqNK6wwIESUsyZlwh822-szDNXBuGlGR5WyKkRsYK2TpH2Sueo2dx1z46soIdQlpfnQSKyOWV6sDK5qmxbq2D7eSZyLk4EQWIc9zEdDDCa9bHDGBs0y0KAFuwXClYScyKKNTbYrJLHfAB8-dV3sFgEbAKvfDD3edyIyRwba1eWjBTUG5EBGVQCYnLRiiB0aD5sY-BtIp0NWbj8LJpB1oqIUkbL52jx-jLY5tSkH2eFQNxHbobgfNTT9xidFSI&smid=url-share

You can’t spell “supreme corruption” without “Supreme Court.” Legit.
#SCOTUS #JudicialEthics #LeonardLeo #FederalistSociety #HarlanCrow #PeterSinger #QuidProQuo #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #JohnRoberts #NeilGorsuch #BrettKavanaugh #AmyConeyBarrett

“Fuck ‘owning the libs.’ We’re buying conservatives: Supreme Court justices. I invested in one at three-fifths market value; it consistently pays for itself.”
~ Harlan Crowe, with Leonard Leo and Paul Singer *

*None of them is known to have said this. They didn’t have to.
#SCOTUS #SupremeCourt #JudicialEthics #OwningTheLibs#buyingTheConservatives #HarlanCrowe #LeonardLeo #PaulSinger #FederalistSociety #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #QuidProQuo #SupremeCourtCorruption

While MAGA mouthpieces like Trump, DeSantis, Cruz, Greene, and Boebert fire up their deplorable base by raging about “owning the libs,” Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo, and Paul Singer are buying the conservatives, SCOTUS justices that is: Thomas, Alito, and others.
#SCOTUS #JudicialEthics #SCOTUScorruption #ClarenceThomas #SamuelAlito #HarlanCrow #LeonardLeo #PaulSinger #FederalistSociety

Of course, the BIGGEST FISH big fish got hooked and reeled in that day was a bottom-feeder with sketchy scales: ALITO.

Justice Thomas didn’t attend this outing, because Singer wasn’t interested in any sole at the time.
#SamuelAlito #PaulSinger #QuidProQuo #JudicialEthics #SCOTUScorruption #SCOTUSforSale

"And like Scalia, Alito argued that the seat on Singer’s private jet would have otherwise remained 'vacant' if he had not accepted the invitation."
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Failure to recuse is not a new problem, nor one which the court is likely to remedy without corrective legislation.

The article also recounts Justice Stevens' notes protesting Chief Justice Rehnquist's failure to recuse in a Microsoft case.
#SCOTUS #SamuelAlito #Recusal #Ethics

Non-paywalled Washington Post
https://wapo.st/3PA29TG

You don't need to bring a gift to your Supreme Court hearing, but if you must, here is my justice registry.

#Law #LawFedi #Alito #ClarenceThomas #SCOTUS #Ethics #ProPublica #TheGiftThatKeepsOnGiving #EthicalObligations #ConflictsOfInterest #SamuelAlito #Gifts #GiftRegistries #Dobbs

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/you-dont-need-to-bring-a-gift-to-your-supreme-court-hearing-but-if-you-must-here-is-my-justice-registry

The @ProPublica article on gifts received by #SamuelAlito, for which the #SCOTUS justice provided a prebuttal in the WSJ.

“If you were good friends, what were you doing ruling on his case?” said Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor and leading expert on recusals.

“And if you weren’t good friends, what were you doing accepting this?” referring to the flight on the private jet. https://t.co/piikqDBIzD

#law #LawFedi