Congressional Democrats have pushed for ethics reform legislation, efforts publicly rejected by Samuel Alito

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They can call for him to resign all they want. He won’t. And he doesn’t have to. We have a SCOTUS who is accountable to no one and can get away with anything. They’re like the Mullahs of Iran.

        • kescusay@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Bingo. Each branch is supposed to act as a check on the power of the other two, but the current Congress would rather use its impeachment power to go after Hunter Biden - excuse me, Joe Biden - for being a Democrat.

          By all rights, Thomas should have earned immediate impeachment and removal the moment his frequent acceptance of bribes came to light. But bribery is no scandal for Republicans anymore. For most of their supporters, literally the only crime a Republican can commit is agreeing with a Democrat on anything.

        • evatronic@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Not as long as Democrats’ voters stay home because “both parties are the same” and Republicans ’ voters turn out in droves.

          Stop electing Republicans and you’ll see a lot of problems solved.

      • IdleSheep@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        In theory they can do something about it but because in America there’s only 2 parties in power, with one parry’s identity being “opposing the other party no matter what” rather than serving the people of the country, they’ll never reach the consensus necessary to actually remove the judge.

        In most countries there’s multiple parties in power negotiation is typically mandatory and a consensus for action can often be found. In the US that’s virtually impossible because the 2 parties hate each other and there’s no other alternative.

      • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Congress could impeach him in a hot second, if most of them weren’t either on his side, or doing the same thing.

    • mookulator@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      They have to expand and term limit SCOTUS. Dilute his power, incentivize good behavior and force him out eventually

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      You might be underselling Iran. Even the Supreme Leader can theoretically be removed from office, in the same sense that Thomas can theoretically be removed.

  • DragonAce@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    We’ve known this dude was a piece of shit since the Anita Hill trial in the 90’s. This motherfucker has been corrupt since the start, he doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself, just like every other rich fuck in this country. So hes not the exception here by any means, he just didn’t really make much of an effort to hide it.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      He doesn’t care, and none of the elite/handlers do, because it took 25 years for the blatant corruption to be exposed and make national headlines.

      I could understand if it took a few years, but 20+ reinforces what most of us already know; journalism is a captured industry, and most “news” exists as a for-profit tool to manufacture consent.

      • Krakatoa@lemmy.film
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        1 year ago

        Keep us all angry and afraid fighting with each other while the plutocracy consolidates more resources and power.

  • ScrollinMyDayAway@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    And since his wife was active in the plot to overthrow the government, it’s a safe bet he was in the know as well.

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t understand how this isn’t a criminal matter. If nothing else, it violates the Ethics in Government Act. Is there no law against soliciting and accepting bribes?

    • Sethayy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      BRIBES yes, but gifts cause he’s a super special boy? Not at all.

      But like really you can’t fix busted to hell, the system is corrupt to the top and taking out one mouthpiece won’t change that

    • horrorslice@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The Supreme Court is the only arm of the federal judiciary that is not bound by a code of ethics.

      I read that in the article and learned something new.

      Apparently they are above the law.

        • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I hear you have a couple things in your Constitution that might give you the power to do that.

          • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            I hear you have a couple things in your Constitution that might give you the power to do that.

            Sorry, US guns are only for hunting, target practice, self defense, extrajudicial killings by police, and shooting up schools. The majority are in the hands of folks who want nothing more than the fascism express to roll on in so all the people they hate will be hurt.

    • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I don’t understand how this isn’t a criminal matter. If nothing else, it violates the Ethics in Government Act. Is there no law against soliciting and accepting bribes?

      This was discussed yesterday on one of the talking heads shows. The problem is that there’s little to nothing in the act regarding enforcement or punishment. So basically, it comes down to this:

      EIGA: Don’t accept bribes. Bribes are bad.
      Thomas: Nah, I’ll take them anyway. What are you going to do about it. EIGA: …

      Even if he were to be found guilty of a crime, it would be up to Congress to enforce the Constitutional provision about being in good standing. Which puts us right back to where we are now: If congress were willing to do that, they’d already be doing it and we wouldn’t be having this discussion in the first place.

  • krayj@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    He should not be allowed to resign.

    He should be censured, impeached, stripped of title and power, then replaced…and ultimately charged and tried.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    As if this piece of shit would ever resign. He has immense power. He loves it. He’ll never give it up. And he revels in our inability to do fuck-all about it.

    • mayo@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      At any point in time since 2016 you can bet that at least 50 million Americans have adopted an ‘anything goes’ attitude towards people who share their conservative values. Next election is going to be historic and the part of me that is dead is really excited about it.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      In America politicians have no shame, and due to population density, you can’t organize an effective enough protest here.

    • StarkillerX42@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      He doesn’t have to do anything. He can just ignore everyone and he gets to keep his job. There simply isn’t a check and balance for corrupt appointed judges, other than increasing the number of justices, which Biden has explicitly said he won’t do.

    • Hype@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      We don’t use that word. Corruption and bribery sounds icky.

      Try lobbying instead.

      • BilboBargains@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s a good shout. Forgot about that guy. He got stiffed in 2016, probably his last chance. I appreciate the unwavering adherence to principles of people like Ron Paul. Politics done the old fashioned way. The money is a huge problem.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There really does need to be additional checks on Supreme Court Justices, because Congress clearly isn’t doing its job. Both the Executive and the Legislative branches are directly answerable to voters, yet the Judicial branch is strangely absent from that ongoing check on their power. I get that we don’t want Supreme Court Justices having to campaign for their position, but at the same time, voters should have some direct say in who gets to stay. We clearly had at least two unqualified justices added to the Court under Trump that should not be there.

    In the history of the Supreme Court, only one Judge has actually been impeached, but wasn’t removed. Another ended up resigning after impeachment was threatened, but that’s likely when people actually had a sense of shame and resigned when they were caught doing something wrong. We’re at a point now though where one part will simply deny reality and/or any wrong-doing, claim it’s just the other side being political, and ignore it.

    So calling for him to resign is just sort of a nice-to-say thing I guess, at least it’s on record that somebody said it, but it will ultimately go nowhere.

    • CompostMaterial@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My desired state is that every governmental position at the senior level is subject to voter recall regardless of whether they are appointed or elected. All of them. I would still expect a high bar to be met to trigger that recall threshold, but the people should ALWAYS be the final say on those in power over them.

    • zephyreks@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Ask yourself this: why is the circuit that covers the largest and most populous area not currently represented? Why is a court that speaks for the entire country disproportionately represented by people from the Tri Cities and DC?

      The SCOTUS doesn’t represent America, it represents an East Coast elite America that turns its head away from the harsh realities of working class Americans in Midwestern and Western America.

      • havocpants@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        if it’s the East Coast Elite running the supreme court, then how come they’re doing regressive dumb shit like overturning Roe vs Wade and putting a stop to student loan forgiveness? How did either of these things help with the “harsh realities of working class Americans in Midwestern and Western America” ?

        • zephyreks@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          The Supreme Court is completely decoupled from the American population. What do you expect to happen? It’s a place where career justices can go to play ideology while normal people are suffering.

          The East Coast elite is very rich and (by extension) conservative. They are never going to vote for things that actually help the American populace.

          • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The East Coast elite is very rich and (by extension) conservative. They are never going to vote for things that actually help the American populace.

            I would hardly call most New England states, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware as “conservative” by any stretch of the imagination. It doesn’t get conservative until you get south of DC.

            • dhork@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              NYC does have actual conservatives, they even have their own island and have to take a ferry to get to work…

              • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Every state has conservative pockets. McCarthy is from California, one of the bluest states in the country. But NYC as a whole is overwhelmingly blue.

                • dhork@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Not you’re conflating two issues. All large states tend to have rural areas which are mostly conservative, and California is no exception. I looked McCarthy 's district up and it’s in the southern part of the Central Valley, it looks like it includes some of Fresno’s suburbs but not Fresno itself (which is repped by a Democrat). NY State is no different: go north of the Tappan Zee and you have large swaths of Republican country with a few dots of cities that are Democratic thrown in.

                  But NYC definitely has Conservatives. They may not be as conservative as the South, but they exist. Recall that NYC elected Giuliani as Mayor, before he went off the rails. NYC also elected Mike Bloomberg, but in fairness he would be a Democrat anywhere else.

            • zephyreks@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              Joe who supports the Patriots and works on a lobster boat half the year isn’t going to the Supreme Court. Bill who’s a theatre student at NYU isn’t going to the Supreme Court. The people that are going to the Supreme Court are predominantly white men from highly privileged backgrounds.

              Coincidentally, this forms the three metrics that correlate with conservative lean. Wealthier people lean conservative, white people lean conservative, and men lean conservative. In fact, even in the notoriously liberal New York Metro, white people are mixed https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/party-affiliation/by/racial-and-ethnic-composition/among/metro-area/new-york-city-metro-area/.

    • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Another ended up resigning after impeachment was threatened, but that’s likely when people actually had a sense of shame and resigned when they were caught doing something wrong.

      Different times. Today, he can hide behind the law and beefed up security. The absolutely worst that could happen to him is that he resigns or is removed in disgrace, but he gets to keep all of the ill-gotten gains he’s collected over the years. Try that back then and there’s a very real possibility that he’d have been dragged out into the streets and hanged if he refused to resign. Especially considering he’s black.

      Today, it’s “Can you resign? Pretty please? No? Aw, shucks.”

      Back then, it was “Resign or be hanged, asshole.”

  • Pratai@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I’ve given up on being bothered by this disaster of a political system. Now, it’s time to just sit back and laugh at all the futile attempts to reign in the corruption and criminal acts of this absolutely repugnant political party.