The stench arising from the supreme
court is enough to gag anyone with a conscience and a triple digit
IQ. Justice Sonia Sotomayor quite correctly complained about the
stench of partisanship on our current supreme court, and I am going
to expand on that because we have on our hands a problem that
undermines the whole concept of the rule of law. As I wrote in a
piece I posted on Mac's Back Porch in 2011:
“... the principles for the conduct
of judges are set forth in the rules of ethics those judges must
follow. If U.S. Supreme Court Justices can ignore those rules and
refuse to recuse themselves from cases in which those justices might
have a conflict of interest or a bias in favor of one party over
another then the right to an impartial hearing and decisions based
upon the merits of the case mean nothing. In which case, our entire
judicial system is a sham. … T]he real question is not whether
Supreme Court Justices must follow the rules of ethics but rather
who, if anyone, has the authority to enforce those rules in regard to
U.S. Supreme Court Justices. To conclude otherwise would be
inconsistent with the most fundamental principles of our judicial
system. The good reputation of the Supreme Court and its justices is
essential if the people of this country are going to have any faith
in the integrity of our courts. This was the argument Chief Justice
Earl Warren made to Justice Abe Fortas when Mr. Fortas faced the
threat of impeachment over the Wolfson scandal, and it was at least
in part why Justice Fortas resigned from the court.
What Abe Fortas did to cause the threat
of impeachment was not as egregious as the violations committed by
Clarence Thomas. Justice Fortas at least had the good sense to recuse
himself from hearing the cases involving Mr. Wofson. Clarence Thomas,
on the other hand, heard the Citizens United Case and voted in favor
of Citizens United even though Citizens United had contributed
$100,000 to help Justice Thomas get confirmed. After receiving
valuable gifts from American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Justice
Thomas heard three cases involving AEI, and he either sided with AEI
or took positions more extreme than AEI in all three of those cases.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Justice Thomas.
He has demonstrated an unmistakable pattern of ethical violations
that cannot be ignored. The evidence against him is mounting both in
regard to the activities of his wife and in regard to his
relationship with Harlan Crow, both of which should have caused
Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases he has helped to decide.*
Clarence Thomas is the perfect example of why judges must follow the
rules of ethics and why Supreme Court Justices cannot be exempt from
those rules.”
Amazingly, the pundits are acting like
the newest scandal, the seditious and despicable actions of Thomas'
wife, are somehow new and oh so surprising, as are the questions the
scandal raises about injustice Thomas' ethics and impartiality.
Where the hell have those pundits been? Why are they ignoring the
history of injustice Thomas' unethical and, most likely, corrupt
behavior? The one thing the pundits have right is that injustice
Thomas will not be impeached and removed from office. The reason for
that is self evident. It is because we now have one party, the
Republican Party, that is so morally and intellectually bankrupt that
it considers staying in power and imposing its extreme right wing
agenda on the rest of us to be more important than the constitution
or the rule of law! Moscow Mitch's politicizing and packing the
court combined with the brazenly unethical behavior of Clarence
Thomas makes it absolutely vital for us to reform this stinking
court! We must gain enough seats in congress and the senate to
expand the supreme court and make it adopt the very sound rules of
ethics that all other judges must follow!
*Thomas' Ethical
Entanglements
