Trust in U.S. Supreme Court Continues to Sink

The U.S. Supreme Court has spiraled into unprecedented levels of corruption, with public trust collapsing. Justices like Clarence Thomas, caught in scandal after scandal, take undisclosed luxury trips from billionaires like Harlan Crow while his wife, Ginni Thomas, helps fuel efforts to overturn democracy. Samuel Alito is no better, entangled with dark-money donors whose cases appear before him. Ethics and integrity are out the window, with Chief Justice Roberts standing idly by as the Court hands out wildly partisan rulings, from gutting the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, to unleashing corporate money into politics with Citizens United, to undermining the very authority of federal agencies like the EPA in West Virginia v. EPA. These aren’t judicial rulings -- they are political hit men in robes.

And now comes the Court’s latest act of judicial malpractice: declaring that the president enjoys “absolute immunity” if his crimes are shrouded in the “official duties” of his office. No president in over two centuries has needed such a far-fetched ruling to be “daring and bold,” and yet the Court’s majority insists on giving Trump, and future presidents, a blank check for their misdeeds. This ruling didn’t just come from left field -- it was pulled directly out of the right-wing’s ideological wish list, as in 'making sh*t up' all while accusing liberal justices of “legislating from the bench.”

In past decades, a scandal of the magnitude of Thomas, Alito, et al., would have led to resignations and reform. Just look at Justice Abe Fortas, who stepped down in the 1960s over improprieties that pale in comparison to what Thomas and Alito are up to. But today, there are no consequences for these egregious ethical violations. Clearly, the more liberal courts of the past had vastly more integrity. But, the current Court has become a conservative wrecking ball, smashing through the pillars of democracy while pretending to protect the Constitution. Conservatives plays lip service to the constitution. Where does the constitution say 'absolute immunity', where does the constitution say 'money is speech'?

Where?

Conservatives on the court are making it up as they go along, whatever right wing fantasy occurs to them, because THEY KNOW, no one can stop them, because, unfortunately, the constitution forgot to put a mechanism in place to check their power. The framers never imagined that the Senate would approve justices who were corrupt, they assumed the senate would be men of such stature, 'acting on good faith' was assumed. Oh boy, were they wrong. Oh,. the congress can fix it you say? You know damn well the current congress is hopelessly deadlocked on issues like this. No, there won't be any constitutional amendments to fix anything, not any tine soon, if ever. That is no longer an argument.

This is no longer an independent judiciary -- it’s an activist wing of right-wing politics, deeply compromised by dark money and ideological zealots emboldened by the rulings THEY wrote. Everyone should read Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's numerous treatises on how billionaires have taken over the Supreme Court, it's on his website, search for it.

And the American public knows it. Trust in this institution is in freefall, and calls for reform --ethics codes, term limits, and accountability -- are growing louder. The right has done this, make no mistake. Without drastic action, the Court will continue to sink further into this partisan quagmire, losing what little credibility it has left, and with it, the faith of the nation. The cancer of corruption has spread, and the Supreme Court as we know it may never recover unless a courageous Democratic president takes 'daring and bold' action.

And what are Republicans saying to this sentiment? "It's all whine" they say. Many, if not most, republicans of this GOP, a shadow of it's former self, do not care if this court's public trust is in the crapper, just as long as their tyranny of their minority get their way, and 'the people', the actual majority, be damned, all the while they misinterpret the words of Mssrs Hamilton, Jay, and Madison's writings in the Federalist Papers that the founders never supported democracy, which is horse manure ( they feared 'direct' democracy, which, in modernity, is moot, it doesn't exist, so quit saying it). They misinterpret the Fed Papers to say 'majority = mob' (and nowhere do the Fed Papers say that, which is absurd. With that logic, the 74 million who voted for Trump is not a mob, but the 81 million who voted for Biden IS a mob? Give me a break) they are saying that no, American is not a democracy, it's a republic, as if there is some kind of structural difference (excuse me, the terms 'Republic" and 'democracy' are NOT mutually exclusive, and they differ only in the sense that the former is a representative democracy, and, I repeat, since most, if not all, western developed nations are representative democracies, the term 'democracy' now is predominantly used in the representative sense, which is to say, structurally, there is really no difference between the terms, as they are predominantly used.

Yeah, some of you on the right are not even going to read this OP, you are just going to kneejerk your talking points, the one supplied to you by guys like Mark Levine, et al. Spare me, please. I don't think that (some of ) those of misguided souls on the right understand that words by morons like Levine are extreme outliers in the greater body politic, a plight which many on the right are completely oblivious to, given that this actual reality of truth and justice is in direct conflict with the right wing agenda.

That they are not, essentially, that much different, that America is a democracy, well, the gov says so, the encyclopedias say so, in every corridor of academia and the body politic say so, excluding the fevered dystopian utterings of cretins like Mark Levine, all say so, so cut the crap. These Repubs (most anyway, sure there are exceptions) of MAGA-dom don't give a damn about democracy, and their deeds prove it. From how they've destroyed the SC, to their efforts to suppress the vote, they can't win on democratic terms, they have to win by other means, which, in the past, included, most definitely, crimes. And Trump and his cohorts accuse Dems of 'rigging' the vote, when they openly try and subvert the election. Let's be clear, every accusation against Dems Trump makes, is jprojection, and an actual confession of His crimes. His crimes. You know, the ones for which he has been indicted for. Remember? BS, you say? I dare you to read this: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25182563/govuscourtsdcd2581482520.pdf

But no, those of you who don't give a damn about democracy won't read it. Those of you who do give a damn, will.

Lots of crimes. THe GOP is a runaway criminal enterprise, and history proves it. But no, they, most of them (some of you do care, I realize) most of them don't give a damn and all of these FACTS, are 'whine', and Trump has come right and and told all of us, the very thing repubs accuse the left of, he is going to weaponize the DOJ, to make it his private gestapo (oh, excuse me, I meant 'gazpacho police') God help us all if this clown, this con man, this sex abusing pervert criminal, Donald Trump, wins back the white house: Don't like these words? Yeah, the bitter pill of facts, ergo, THE TRUTH, hurts, I know.

But, you guys could fix it, if you really wanted to. How? Don't vote for criminals like Nixon and of late, Trump. Of course, y'all didn't see Nixon coming, but you can't hide behind that with Trump. His crimes are right out in the open.




For further reading on the points underscored herein regarding the SC, go to:

https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/trust-in-us-supreme-court-continues-to-sink/

And please, if you are incapable of a substantive counter argument, don't waste the forum's time. I put these ideas up for public DEBATE. Not snarky one liners that do not move the discourse forward. So, please, no non arguments. State your case, put an effort in your rebuttal. Those, I encourage. Doesn't even have to be perfectly nice (this OP isn't, eh?), just be substantive. Show some effort.

 

God bless the supreme court!!!!! They are the only thing standing in the way of the commie left achieving their Marxist utopia

 

Please refresh your browser and read the very last paragraph, where it says:

And please, if you are incapable of a substantive counter argument, don't waste the forum's time. I put these ideas up for public DEBATE. Not snarky one liners that do not move the discourse forward. So, please, no non arguments. State your case, put an effort in your rebuttal. Those, I encourage. Doesn't even have to be perfectly nice (this OP isn't, eh?), just be substantive. Show some effort.​

 

I ignore disclaimers trying to tell ME how to post on a PUBLIC forum. Keep your marxist orders to yourself. I will continue to ignore them.
CHEERS!!!!

 

The Supreme Court is finally making rulings that protect our constitutional rights instead of trying to dilute them. Keep on keepin on.

 

I did not read it all but I agree with everything I read so far. I will go back and read it thoroughly when I get a chance. I keep repeating and will keep repeating, the root of the problem goes back to Marbury v Madison (1803). In Marbury, SCOTUS unconstitutionally granted itself the power to interpret the Constitution in violation of Article III and the 10th Amendment. In doing so, SCOTUS has legislated from the bench, calling it "case law" in violation of Article II and amended the Constitution in violation of Article IV Section 4. As we all can see in the latest rulings, their "interpretations" are just pretenses. By their latest immunity ruling, they've essentially cut the heart out of American ideology as enshrined in our founding document, the Declaration of Independence. Our country was founded on the principle that no man is king or above the law. SCOTUS threw that in the trash. But that's far from the only ruling that has perverted the Constitution. I can list dozens, this one though is the most egregious IMO.

 

Once again: Everything Mr Trump touches, dies!

The credibility of the Supreme Court is another of his victims.

 

maga won’t care until a liberal or legitimate conservative court simply reverses everything the maga court has done since they are found that precedent is no longer relevant.

Then they will scream victim

 

Total nonsense. Clever that you used so much space rebutting them would exceed post length limits. The Court's doing a great job blocking the loonies
left's attempts to destroy liberty in favor of progressive marxist.

 

what decisions of the current court do you claim went against the constitution?

 

it's AI generated stuff that has almost no veracity. Someone who claims you can only raise a second amendment rights issue if you are a member of a well regulated militia is not someone who has any understanding of constitutional law

 

The left couldn't care less about the Constitution; they demonstrated that every day. From buggering up the voting process to bullying social media to censor or remove certain posts, to attempting to create a federal misinformation/disinformation bureau ultimate power and authority is their objective.

 

No matter the ruling of the Supreme Court a certain group in the USA will be displeased. They might even demand a justice be impeached or suggest we add more justices. The more complaints I hear from different factions about the justices the more I think we have as close to a perfect court as can be humanly possible. Even the wise King Solomon ordered the "baby be split in half". Yep, the USA has endured for a long time living with the Supreme Court rulings. It's the final law of the land -- quit complaining.

 

stop pretending you are either an honest scholar of the constitution or a moderator. his response was perfectly acceptable and on top of that it was correct

 

well said-suppressing free speech is a leftist proclivity be it Adam "the ferret" Schiff or his followers on this board

 

None of them, the court determines constitutionality

A moderate court wiping away those decisions based on the method of ruling from this court will also be constitutional

 

depends if their decisions fly in the face of the constitution. Nothing the current court has done appears to be contrary to the intentions of the founders.

 

I don’t think the founders would have been excited about states being able to force children to have rape babies against their will or doctors being so scared of prosecution that they let patients die instead. But then again the founders also wouldn’t have supported gerrymandering or the duopoly that controls the nation. They certainly wouldn’t have supported the influx of religious control guiding legal principals.

But that’s just my opinion. Again, the USSC determines constitutionality. Unless it is directly spelled out then it is up to their interpretation. And they have just stated their interpretation no longer has to consider the opinion of prior courts and that all interpretations are just temporary.

I hope you get to see this play out during your lifetime

 

well since you want to talk about the founders-what do you think the would say about abortion on demand or abortion for convenience? or wealth redistribution through income and estate taxes?

 

We'll only scream when the court violates the Constitution. A lot of recent rulings have strengthen our rights, not weakened them as the Leftists want.

 

The content of the post is as rediculous as having someone with a Brazilian flag criticizing our court system considering what's going on with their courts.

There is no evidence of actual corruption. Just rulings the left doesn't like. And those rulings were not even necessarily right wing. They were just attempts and originalism, constitutionalism, and trying to preserve the function of our system.

 

You brought up the founders, don’t act like I did just because you probably agree with what I posted.

As for abortion: I think most of them would have said it was a private matter and the government shouldn’t be involved. Anglo-American common law made it legal before “quickening” which was around 16 to 22 weeks. Convictions after 16 to 22 weeks, prior to the 19th century were non-existent indicating that it was not a concern for the courts.

As to taxes the founders seem to supported tariffs, land taxes and sales taxes. Here is a quote from Jefferson that you will absolutely hate and likely ignore:

“Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise.”

Even the founders knew that runaway wealth by the elite would destroy the nation. I think they would be disturbed by what this nation is currently doing.

 

Yes, our rights are so strong that children are having to flee their home states to about their rape baby. So strong that states are trying to prosecute abortions that happen in other states.

 

how many times does that happen

 

You're asking that question and you claim to be an attorney? So if a person has their rights violated it has to happen more than once otherwise it's constitutional? Amazing Trumpian logic.