The SCOTUS Chronicles (topical thread)

[Thumpalumpacus]

There probably already are some statutes or at least guidelines regarding ethics of SC.  If either party wants to impeach a SC member I say go for it.

There are guidelines but not requirements, which means that any impeachment will fall afoul of GOP arguments that "it isn't forbidden!".

There are no statutes regarding SCOTUS judges, which shows your level of knowledge on the subject, really. And the"guidelines" you also suggest are actually already being circumvented. But hey, it's not a problem for you now is it.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I miss Gary's opposing views, and Madhatter's... it's become an echo chamber in here. Life is much more interesting when looked at from different points of view. We are getting as partisan as the country. I think it's sad.

Gary? Never heard of 'im.

[Dom]

I miss Gary's opposing views, and Madhatter's... it's become an echo chamber in here. Life is much more interesting when looked at from different points of view. We are getting as partisan as the country. I think it's sad.

Gary? Never heard of 'im.

 So I misspelled.

[Inkubus]

These playful jousting sessions are becoming rather tedious.

So here's a parrot:

[airportkid]

So here's a parrot

Gawd that's funny!   Lotta people sound just like that. 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Gary? Never heard of 'im.

 So I misspelled.

Srs, don't know what you're on about. Feel free to clarify.

[Dom]

Key gun control measure in the crosshairs at US Supreme Court


The case involves a Texas man named Zackey Rahimi who was convicted under a 1994 federal law that prohibits a person subject to a domestic violence restraining order - as he was after assaulting his girlfriend - from possessing a firearm.

Rahimi challenged his conviction on the grounds that the law violated the Constitution's Second Amendment "right to keep and bear arms," and won. Biden's administration has appealed.

A ruling is expected by June 2024, with the U.S. presidential race kicking into high gear.

"The Supreme Court must reverse this dangerous ruling," Janet Carter of the gun-violence prevention group Everytown Law said. "Domestic abusers do not have - and should not have - the constitutional right to possess a firearm."

The court's conservative majority has taken an expansive view of Second Amendment rights in a nation facing persistent gun violence including mass shootings. The Second Amendment states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The court has widened gun rights in three major rulings since 2008.

[Thumpalumpacus]

A New York Times investigation revealed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was brought access to the wealthy through relationships he built with members of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

The Times reported that just months after Thomas joined the bench in 1991, he was welcomed into the Horatio Alger Association, a nonprofit scholarship organization, where he forged relationships with a select group of largely wealthy conservatives. This organization granted him access to wealthy friends who gifted Thomas with vacation retreats and V.I.P. tickets to sporting events, as well as invited him to parties, according to The Times.

The Times’s investigation discovered that Thomas received benefits from the members of the association and large donors to conservative causes. Among many of the contacts he made through the group was David Sokol, an investor and former executive at Berkshire Hathaway, who hosted Thomas and his wife Ginny at their ranch in Montana and property in Florida.

The investigation said that Thomas did not disclose many of the gifts and trips over the last two decades reported by the Times. Thomas used to report the personal gifts and travel benefits he received, but the Times reported that after a 2004 investigation by The Los Angeles Times came out about his disclosures, he largely stopped disclosing them.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-bat...sociation/

Bought and paid for. Gee, I wonder why?

[Joods]

 So I misspelled.

Srs, don't know what you're on about. Feel free to clarify.

Maybe she meant Jerry? 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Srs, don't know what you're on about. Feel free to clarify.

Maybe she meant Jerry? 

I gather that now.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have sent letters to two wealthy businessmen and a major political activist requesting more information about undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court justices.

The letters, sent Tuesday by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the committee chair, seek more details about an undisclosed 2008 luxury fishing vacation Justice Samuel Alito took that was reported last month by ProPublica. The letters went to three people: hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer; mortgage company owner Robin Arkley II; and Leonard Leo, a longtime leader at the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal group.

All three men played a role in paying for or organizing Alito’s 2008 vacation, but the letters go beyond that trip. The senators requested Leo and the businessmen provide a full accounting of all transportation, lodging and gifts worth more than $415 they’ve ever provided to any Supreme Court justice.

“To date, Chief Justice Roberts has barely acknowledged, much less investigated or sought to fix, the ethics crises swirling around our highest Court,” Durbin and Whitehouse said in a joint statement. “If the Court won’t investigate or act, Congress must.” The senators’ committee has announced it plans to vote on July 20 on a bill that would tighten Supreme Court ethics rules.

https://www.propublica.org/article/senat...reme-court

[Minimalist]

The jesus freaks and their allies are going to lose their minds over this one!

https://www.rawstory.com/first-no-prescr...ved-in-us/

First no-prescription birth control pill approved in US


Agence France-Presse
July 13, 2023, 12:06 PM ET

US health authorities on Thursday approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the country, dramatically widening access to contraception for women in the United States where abortion rights are increasingly under assault.



The medication, Opill, will become available in pharmacies and supermarkets as well as online early next year, the manufacturer Perrigo said in a statement.

More than 100 countries already allow contraceptive pills to be sold over the counter. But in the United States approval comes after the Supreme Court last year scrapped federal abortion protections and the procedure is now banned in several states.

"Today's approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States," said Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in a statement.
"When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy."

So...let's see...early next year.  That will give the church and their phony republiKKKunt pals time to get all worked up about all these sluts getting a free ride to immorality just in time for young women to vote in the election.  Nice timing, FDA!

[pattylt]

The jesus freaks and their allies are going to lose their minds over this one!

https://www.rawstory.com/first-no-prescr...ved-in-us/

First no-prescription birth control pill approved in US


Agence France-Presse
July 13, 2023, 12:06 PM ET

US health authorities on Thursday approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the country, dramatically widening access to contraception for women in the United States where abortion rights are increasingly under assault.



The medication, Opill, will become available in pharmacies and supermarkets as well as online early next year, the manufacturer Perrigo said in a statement.

More than 100 countries already allow contraceptive pills to be sold over the counter. But in the United States approval comes after the Supreme Court last year scrapped federal abortion protections and the procedure is now banned in several states.

"Today's approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States," said Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in a statement.
"When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy."

So...let's see...early next year.  That will give the church and their phony republiKKKunt pals time to get all worked up about all these sluts getting a free ride to immorality just in time for young women to vote in the election.  Nice timing, FDA!

I’d narrow down the mind losers to Catholics and some fundamentalists. Maybe Mormons? The bulk of Christian women are either happy or unconcerned with this development.  Hell, it’s estimated that almost 80% of Catholics of childbearing age use the pill…though many won’t say it out loud, or in the confessional.

[Minimalist]

That fact won't stop the fucking church from pretending that they are all lock-step voters on matters of church doctrine.

It's sad watching a bunch of grumpy old men in dresses as their power wanes, isn't it?


But I'll tell you who else is going to be pissed about this.  The American Medical Association.  For generations this birth control shit has been a cash cow for doctors.  They bring women in give them a once over and write a prescription and then they bill the patient or an insurance company for a shitload of money.

I imagine they will start whining real soon.

[Dom]

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has come under renewed scrutiny after ProPublica reported Thursday the justice has received far more luxury vacations, private jets and other gifts from wealthy friends than previously known—the latest in a series of recent controversies involving Thomas that have fueled calls for him to recuse himself from cases or be removed from office and for the court to impose a binding code of ethics.

Sokol, Huizenga and Novelly Gifts: ProPublica reported that during his tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas has accepted gifts including at least 38 “destination vacations,” 26 private jet flights, VIP sports passes, helicopter flights, private resorts stay and a “standing invitation” for a private golf club—which ProPublica noted was “almost certainly an undercount”—particularly from former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, late billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga and Apex Oil CEO Paul “Tony” Novelly, none of which were disclosed on Thomas’ federal disclosure forms.


Clarence Thomas: Here Are All The Ethics Scandals Involving The Supreme Court Justice Amid Latest ProPublica Revelations (msn.com)

[SteveII]

I was wondering if any of you listens to the podcast: Advisory Opinions. It is one of my favorites but it does get deep in the weeds on the law, court opinions and dissents. It is amazing how different the media coverage is from the actual decision handed down by various courts.

If you have an interest, I would look back through and find a recent topic that interests you and give it a try.

[Dom]

I was wondering if any of you listens to the podcast: Advisory Opinions. It is one of my favorites but it does get deep in the weeds on the law, court opinions and dissents. It is amazing how different the media coverage is from the actual decision handed down by various courts.

If you have an interest, I would look back through and find a recent topic that interests you and give it a try.

It looks interesting. I have not listened to podcasts at all yet, but have been meaning to get into it, since I listen to tunein much of the time and they carry a ton of podcasts. Also interesting sounds Rachel Maddow's new "Deja news" podcast. It relates current news back to events in history. I really should get into listening to some podcasts.

[Bucky Ball]

Apparently Justice Alito has lost the small part of his mind that was left.
He actually gave a interview to a lawyer, publicly, who is working a case that will come before the court, whom, even Gorsuch knew he could not speak about in his confirmation hearing. Alito, in light of the most horrible legal brief ever written, by him in the Dobbs case, should resign and go home for good.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme...rcna103394

[Minimalist]

The republiKKKunts will stand by him forever....just the way they do with Fuckface.

[airportkid]

Well, whaddaya know, public pressure can shift even the most stubborn, deeply rooted rocks of obdurance.

It's About Damn Time!

Of course, this might get challenged, and have to go before the court to be adjudicated, except all 9 would have to recuse  

Still, good news.  Next question:  will Thomas gracefully resign after signing this?  Not a question to hold one's breath over.

[pythagorean]

Well, whaddaya know, public pressure can shift even the most stubborn, deeply rooted rocks of obdurance.

It's About Damn Time!

The Supremes have never been Omnipotent.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said Sunday that he would back age limits for justices, claiming the controversial policy would have helped his own decision-making about his retirement in 2022.

“I don’t think that’s harmful,” he said of Supreme Court terms in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview with Kristen Welker on Sunday. “If you had long terms, for example, they’d have to be long. Why long? Because I don’t think you want someone who’s appointed to the Supreme Court to be thinking about his next job.”

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-bat...-justices/

... and:

Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer critiqued textualism, the judicial ideology held by most of the conservatives on the court, on Sunday, saying the perspective is stuck in the past.

Textualism is the belief that the Constitution should be read as written by the founders instead of through its intentions shaped by time, which is what most of the court’s liberals — including Breyer before his retirement in 2022 — believe.

Breyer said in an NBC “Meet the Press” interview with Kristen Welker on Sunday that he understands that textualism is “attractive” to justices and simple to understand, but carries drawbacks.

“It’ll stop the judges from doing what they want. They’ll be bound by the text,” he said. “You say, ‘Sounds good.’ Sounds good, but it doesn’t work very well, in my opinion. And that’s why I’ve spent a year and a half trying to explain why.”

The justice argued that textualists ignore the context of history and the changes to the country over time that have shaped how the Constitution should be interpreted.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-bat...very-well/

[Minimalist]

The justice argued that textualists ignore the context of history and the changes to the country over time that have shaped how the Constitution should be interpreted.

They ignore it when they want to and swear by it when they want to.  SCOTUS has become just another political entity.