When abuse of power corruption begins to surface among the very entitled and very protected, the first thing they do is whine and cry: ‘How dare the little people object.’ They do things like get anyone who might benefit from being near their own power to circle the wagons in the press, they get newer members to praise the niceness of individuals as if this erases the rights they’re stealing, and they wall off their place of work so no one can be heard or seen objecting.
Meet the United States Supreme Court, and in particular, Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts complained Tuesday night in Washington at the American Law Institute’s annual dinner about judges being heckled at law schools and retorted like someone who definitely needs oversight that the court doesn’t need Congress to patrol its ethics (even though they aren’t doing it themselves and aren’t even promising to do so). He suggested the court was considering ways for justices to “adhere to the highest standards of conduct.”
“Judges heckled and shouted down at law school. Protesters outside the homes of Justices to the extent that martial protection is needed 24/7,” Roberts said. He then said the hardest decision he had ever made was whether or not to erect fences around the court.
Roberts did erect fences and barricades around the Supreme Court, which is the perfect symbol for a court so out of touch with the populace and so high on its own corrupt power that it feels entitled to not even hear from people who disagree. While the justices are entitled to safety, the First Amendment rights of the The People shouldn’t be so easily suppressed. It’s also important to note that the people whose lives are threatened daily by this court’s decisions prohibiting common sense gun control measures and revoking life-saving rights for women don’t get to erect barriers from this court.
Roberts offered that he was “committed” to ensuring high levels of conduct, which is as meaningless a comment as one can manufacture, given what has already transpired under his watch. “I want to assure people that I am committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment.”
The very credibility of the court is at risk and the longer they wait to remedy the issue, the more corruption and erosion of our democratic process become enshrined as normal. Perhaps that is the goal. The way you can tell that Roberts doesn’t actually mean much is that he segued into and this is why the court doesn’t need oversight:
“I am confident there are ways to do that that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government under the Constitution’s separation of powers.”
That’s the moment Roberts signaled that he has no intention of allowing any oversight by an outside body. The only concession he is making is rhetorical and theoretical, in that he might consider some internal mechanism run by the very people who have already betrayed the American people.
You can watch here:
LIVE: US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will speak at the American Law Institute’s annual dinner https://t.co/G0cfzaGspD
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 24, 2023
To put this in context, earlier this same day Nazi obsessed Clarence Thomas/Republican Party billionaire benefactor and
influencer Harlan Crow refused to cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee, which puts Roberts’ comments in an even more pointedly defensive reading. The Senate committee sought a list of undeclared gifts Crow has given to Clarence Thomas. Crow’s lawyers claimed that Congress didn’t have the authority to investigate gifts to a Supreme Court justice.
Undisclosed gifts we now know about from Crow to Clarence Thomas (he has also supported Clarence’s wife Ginni in her hard right activism, which included texts demonstrating her rabid belief in the false claims about election fraud that were used to justify a deadly attempted coup incited by these lies) include the purchase of a Savannah, Georgia property where Thomas’ mother lives rent-free, luxury travel, resort stays, and schooling for Thomas’ great-nephew.
Is Crow just some random rich dude who surrounds himself with Nazi memorabilia and has taken a shine to Clarence Thomas? Well, no. Crow has actually had business in front of the Supreme Court upon which Clarence Thomas still sits, during his relationship with Thomas.
A month or so ago, Roberts himself refused a Judiciary Committee request on this same topic of Clarence Thomas’ blatant ethical corruption (at best) and refusal to comply with the statutes regarding disclosures involving trips and gifts paid for by a wealthy donor.
Experts have weighed in on Thomas’s refusal to disclose scandal, pointing to several applicable standards he has failed to uphold. For example, “Two watchdog groups, however,here, and here explain that the Ethics in Government Act and the judicial branch regulations have always required disclosing gifts of transportation.”
It’s too late for promises based upon Roberts’ word, but even if it weren’t, a democratic government doesn’t give lifetime power to a small body with no oversight. This country is built on three branches checking one another, not on one branch being untouchable.
This court has already been proven to be corrupt beyond our wildest imaginations and the concern as more and more stories of justices being funneled money in various ways from influential figures is: What don’t we know. After all, we have also seen with our own eyes a justice being allowed to not recuse himself on matters in which his own wife is activating and lobbying.
The only reason we know any of this, some of which has been going on for the past two decades, is because stories are leaking to the surface of the murky waters of this court in the wake of their unprecedented power grab via the overturning of Roe v Wade and then subsequent opposite precedent hammer over state’s rights when it comes to guns. Whatever way the illiberal, far Right wants a judgement to go on abortion and guns, that’s the way this court moves even when the precedents seem to clash.
The erosion and damage to our institutions is limitless and far-reaching. This court will continue to boldly and shamelessly operate corruptly and without consideration for democratic principles until the American people have had enough or until the pretense of democracy collapses.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
