‘Corrupt as hell’: Clarence Thomas faces fresh calls to resign after more billionaire gifts revealed
independent.co.uk
Congressional Democrats have pushed for ethics reform legislation, efforts publicly rejected by Samuel Alito
Congressional Democrats have pushed for ethics reform legislation, efforts publicly rejected by Samuel Alito
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.
I'm not American, so maybe that's a stupid question, but is there really nothing the rest of the government can do about it?
Maybe if congress got its shit together they could impeach him, but that won't happen.
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.
This is Hunter Biden's America, smh
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.
I think you really overestimate the "both parties are the same" group/impact. The Dems need to do more to capture and inspire votes. Stop blaming people for not voting for them. You're supposed to earn their vote with good policy. It's not good enough to just be not as shite as the republicans.
I don't think they are under-estimating, or even close. It's like taking a solid b student and grading them next to the kid eating paint chips and torturing small animals and pretending it's the same. Even in modern times, look at economic accomplishments of this admin, legislative accomplishments, etc. Fighting for things like a higher min wage (though it failed.)
Fuck no. Every time in my life we've voted in Republicans it's led to one catastrophe or another. Sure you can make an argument that Dems need to be pushed to the left, but the choices are between:
a) the party who isn't improving your life fast enough
b) the party these days that are literal fascists responsible for multiple financial collapses at this point, millions dead from wars they start, failure to manage a pandemic, extreme wealth concentration, that is looking at our planet on fire and still doesn't meaningfully acknowledge that our policy is causing it. Book bans, loss of bodily autonomy for half of the country, destroying education, ensuring discrimination in law, bringing back child labor.
If you're voting republican in 2023 or not voting democrat, you're a sociopath, billionaire (whoops said the same thing twice), or a fucking moron*. There is no path to a more progressive country that comes through allowing fascists to burn it all down.
* I suppose I could more charitably say "extremely, profoundly ignorant in a way that almost has to be a choice at this point."
You heard it here folks, if you have any principle and vote green then you're scum to this person and a sociopath.
Hope you like gagging on the dick of your corporate lobbied leaders. What a detestable way to interact with and view the rest of the world. I hate the republican party more than most but your brand of condescending neo-liberal piousness comes in close second.
You literally are shitting on everyone who isn't already voting for your party in this comment and wonder why the Dems hemorrhage votes.
How about instead of spitting in the eyes of those more progressive or less informed than yourself you might wanna look at the glass house you're sitting in.
Maybe there's a little more nuance than your beyond idiotic reduction of the situation.
Edit: Oh yeah and fuck right off with that pathetic, "oh good little house elf will appreciate the meagre left wing policy. Change doesn't come overnight, I must love the piecemeal changes and accept that this is just how it is." We'd still have segregation and women wouldn't vote if history was made of spineless people like you.
Lol, I guess I should have led with "extremely, profoundly ignorant in a way that almost has to be a choice at this point” for all of the reading comprehension in this post.
Aside from the fact that I am far more left than the democratic party and your base assumption about me and the point of my post is woefully far off, I would really love some answer to a very basic question:
What has the effect been for left/progressive policy from sitting out elections or voting for third party/independents?
While left/progressives sit over here and go "oh I don't like this candidate because they voted for this policy in '92 that was bad for beluga whales" the right will line up and dutifully vote for a rapist that tried to overthrow democracy as long as they have an R next to their name.
But yeah, vote your principles! Go out there and vote for the green candidate! After all, look at how well that went towards advancing green principles - The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism; nonviolence; social justice; participatory democracy; grassroots democracy; anti-war; anti-racism; libertarian socialism and eco-socialism. All that got so much better thanks to the idealists who thought Hillary was a little too corporate or had a little too much resting bitch face.
You talk about misrepresenting views and then you pull this out your arse:
How about Citizens United? How about Glass Steagall? How about the drug war? How about police reform, healthcare, corporate taxes. I could go on and on.
I feel like my analysis is pretty apropo considering how you're not acknowledging the massive blind spot in issues that most of the USA agree on. And fuck off with picking out the worst perspectives picked out from your dissenters.
You don't think I can pick out a list of headlines for the democratic party which has an even worse history than the greens! You don't think you make some concessions to vote for them?
That's the thing for me though, you're so condescending and write off everyone else but those who toe the line for your team. You can't even approach the conversation with the honest position that there's good people who can disagree politically with you. Exuding the fart sniffing ego that has turned so many of the working class away from the democrats.
Okay.
How do you propose Democrats accomplish things while stonewalled by Republicans?
I mean there's a thousand different executive actions Biden could've taken at this point? Maybe a better platform to run on that inspires hope a bit better. Christ, I really don't understand the ball-licking of these neo-liberal politicians like they're gods gift. Are you all out of your minds?
Absolutely anything to inspire better than this limp dicked nonsense. It's a bunch of corporatist twats bowing to company interests at every turn.
I don't think the Dems have the guts to impeach a SCOTUS justice even if they got in power.
Looking at what a fully Democratic state government has done in Michigan already from a single election cycle, I think you're wrong. As soon as Republicans get out of office good things can start to happen.
Congress getting their shit together or hell freezes over - what is more likely?
Ironically, in an attempt to make SCOTUS as non-political as possible, our Constitution sets a very high threshhold for removal of a sitting federal judge. You need 67 out of 100 Senators to vote for removal. Our senate is roughly 50/50 split, give or take a couple of people, divided almost evenly between the two parties. And those parties are so deeply divided that it's all but impossible to get up to the 67 people needed to remove a judge, making the threat of impeachment toothless. Any Republican right now who would side with Democrats to remove a Republican judge would be committing political suicide.
In other words, yes, Clarence Thomas can continue to receive bribes with literal impunity. The only other non-partisan methods of removing him are referral to our Department of Justice for a criminal inquiry. But our current leader of the DOJ is a spineless coward afraid of his own shadow, and even if he were to act, the entire process of investigation, charges, trial, impeachment, and removal would take so long that he'd likely be dead of old age before he was removed.
to make SCOTUS as non-political as possibleThe most ironic thing about this phrase is the fact that judges have to say which party they root for.
There are checks and balances. They only work when the government operates in good faith.
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 so 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.
Congress could impeach him in a hot second, if most of them weren't either on his side, or doing the same thing.
They have to expand and term limit SCOTUS. Dilute his power, incentivize good behavior and force him out eventually
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.
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.
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.
Keep us all angry and afraid fighting with each other while the plutocracy consolidates more resources and power.
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.
I'm really hoping she's the unnamed "political advisor" that the special counsel is looking at to possibly charge.
So many good possibilities. I'd be happy with Trump's wife or any of his kids too.
I don't think Malaria gets involved in the crime. She really seems like she can't stand being chained to Jabba. I'm sure she's a piece of shit, but nowhere near as reprehensible as Jabba. She's somewhat a victim, but the gold digging makes it all worth it. But that doesn't mean she's involved in all the conspiracies to overthrow our democracy.
Yeah, she didn't seem happy that he won, and I don't think she'd care if he was sent to jail, either. I just can't see her being invested or intelligent enough to be a part of a conspiracy, and I can't see her and Donald just chatting, let alone about a conspiracy.
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?
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
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.
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.
He should not be allowed to resign.
He should be censured, impeached, stripped of title and power, then replaced....and ultimately charged and tried.
Fuck corrupt politicians, in the ass, with a cactus
Yeah, and corrupt judges
Instructions unclear, but I'm pretty sure we're gonna run out of cacti.
I'd prefer to fuck them with a dildo laden with fishing hooks, but to each their own.
At least make em rusty fish hooks....
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.
Is there any corner of American politics and business that isn't corrupt?
We don't use that word. Corruption and bribery sounds icky.
Try lobbying instead.
Well, there's Bernie Sanders and...
Well, there's Bernie Sanders.
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.
Nope, all working as designed.
At least lock up his sedition wife.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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" ?
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.
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.
NYC does have actual conservatives, they even have their own island and have to take a ferry to get to work....
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.
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.
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/.
Fuck this guy.
If it's all above board why didn't he declare it all when the first gift was revealed?
Traitors, both he and his wife.
Motherfucker doesn’t care. Fuck that guy and his wife. Fuck
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.
Are those judges above the law? What a weird system.
No, but about half of the Senate isn't going to hold him accountable.
Old, fat fuck needs to go.
Let's get some young fresh blood in his seat.
Excuse the ignorance from my side, but do the courts in the VS not have a regulatory organ somewhere?
And is this clown appointed? If so is he a GOP or a democrat?
Unfortunately, nothing will happen and he'll die as a justice on the SCOTUS.
I bet he's not even black?
Edit: not one of you have proved me wrong.
What the fuck?
Some people still wear blackface in 2023.
Who is it that does this?