Reforming how the Supreme Court operates is now a priority to the Senate Judiciary committee led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Dark money involvement in the nomination of Supreme Court Justices has politicized the Court. Billionaires lavishing expensive trips and gifts on Justices has created a sense that the Court is owned by rich people expecting favorable rulings for them from the Court. The Supreme Court is currently not seen as objective and non partisan. The recent scandals involving Justices Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito has added to the low ratings of the Court by the majority of Americans.
The conservative justices have been revealed as either corrupt, feel they should have no accountability for their behaviors, or are ruling with political or special interest loyalties. The Ttumo- stacked Court does not reflect the current beliefs or needs of the majority of Americans. The manner in which Trump stacked the Court should not be allowed in a democracy. The revelations of the lying and corruption that has taken place for years by Alito and Thomas is revealing why the Court must no longer be allowed to police itself.
- Requiring the Court to adopt a code of conduct
- Create a process for the public to lodge formal ethics complaints against the justices, which would be investigated by judges selected from lower courts.
- Require the court beef up its recusal requirements by setting up new rules for when justices must recuse themselves from a case and requiring the justices to explain in writing why they decided to disqualify themselves from a matter.
- Require the court to implement more rigorous rules for disclosing gifts, travel and income received by the nine justices and their clerks. require the court to implement more rigorous rules for disclosing gifts, travel and income received by the nine justices and their clerks. ( CNN Politics, June 14, 2023)
WHAT THOMAS AND ALITO DID WRONG;
Alito participated in a high-end, all-expense-paid fishing trip to Alaska with billionaire hedge-fund owner Paul Singer, including private jet travel, paid-for lodging, lavish food, and drink that he did not disclose in his required financial reporting. He also did not recuse himself from cases that involved Singer.
Clarence Thomas’s financial involvements with conservative megadonor Harlan Crow have sparked serious concerns about the independent and non-political status of the Supreme Court. Some of the violations and non- disclosures by Thomas in relation to Crowe are;
- Harlan Crow pay his grandnephew’s tuition without disclosing it
- His activist wife Ginni Thomas received payments from conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo who has spent billions of dollars over the years to shape the court.
- For years accepted trips from GOP megadonor and developer Harlan Crow, including on his private jet and superyacht, without disclosing them on financial disclosures as federal law requires.
- Thomas and his family also sold a string of properties in Savannah, Georgia, to Crow in 2014 without disclosing that as required, ProPublica reports—including the home where his mother still lives. ( Forbes, May, 5, 2023)
The conservative justices, enabled by the silent, passive Chief Justice John Roberts have been allowed to use their own discretion as to whether to disclose or hide gifts from political megadonors. There are federal laws that limits the types of gifting allowed for justices. The Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act, requires online publication of financial disclosure reports of judicial officers (including Supreme Court Justices), bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges. This was signed into law by President Biden in 2022. However, our democracy has recklessly elevated Supreme Court Justices to a stature that has fomented an arrogance and corruptiveness primarily coming from the conservative side.
