Thursday, April 27, 2023
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema rakes in money from Wall Street
"Sinema changed her affiliation from Democrat to independent in December, which means a reelection announcement would spark a contentious three-way race between the independent incumbent and Republican and Democratic nominees."
On behalf of private equity and hedge fund managers, Sinema successfully stripped the carried interest tax loophole from Biden's major climate. The loophole allows these executives to pay a lower rate of tax than workers pay on earned income.
[GMOM has documented that the provisions that tax dividends and capital gains at lower rates cost nearly $2,000 per person (over $600 billion per year) in lost federal revenue.
Charlie Cooper
Senators Murkowski and King introduce bi-partisan bill on Supreme Court ethics
Sen. Murkowski is a Republican. The bill would require the Court to appoint an investigator and would hold the Justices to standards governing other federal judges.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
How Harlan Crow hides his assets and transactions; Gorsuch non-disclosure
Harlan Crow purchased citizenship in St. Kitts to hide his money dealings. Neil Gorsuch sold a property to a big-time lawyer who argues before the Supreme Court and did not disclose the name of the buyer.
Charlie Cooper
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Thomas did review a matter involving a company related to Harlan Crow
In 2004, Harlan Crow was CEO of Crow Holdings which partly owned a company called Trammell Crow Real Estate. The latter company was sued by an architectural firm, and Thomas participated in a deliberation that ultimately led to the Supreme Court declining to hear the matter. Experts have said that Thomas should have recused himself if he had any way of knowing that Trammell Crow Real Estate was partially owned by Crow Holdings.
Charlie Cooper
Senate Finance Chair Wyden asks Harlan Crow for accounting of gifts to Thomas
Wyden asked for a "complete account of those gifts and evidence that Crow complied with federal tax law. The letter also asks whether any company Crow owns treated travel that included Justice Thomas on Crow's yacht or private jets as a business expense for tax purposes."
The text of Wyden's letter to Crow is available online. He asks whether Crow has evaded federal gift taxes that are applicable to most gifts of over $17,000, both regarding travel for Thomas and his wife and also for the real estate transaction regarding the home occupied by Thomas' mother.
Charlie Cooper
Massachusetts senators and representative launch tour for Supreme Court reform
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, and Rep. Ayanna Preseley announced the launch of a 20-city tour under the Title Just Majority Supreme Court.
Charlie Cooper
Monday, April 24, 2023
Brennan Center article on Supreme Court ethics scandal
"In 2022, Thomas was the only justice to vote to shield records and documents from the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Months later it was revealed that those documents included texts between Thomas' wife, Virginia, and the White House chief of staff about the plot to overturn the 2020 election. Thomas never explained why he did not recuse himself despite this obvious conflict of interest."
" A surprisingly broad bipartisan national consensus supports limiting the justices to an 18-year limit, ending the life terms they now enjoy....
"... no public official should hold that much power for that long, an insight reflected when George Washington stepped down after two terms. The best proposals would give each president a regular appointment every two years, with justices moving to "senior status" and able to hear cases on the lower courts after 18 years. This reform could likely be implemented by statute and certainly by constitutional amendment"
Sunday, April 23, 2023
Conservative Mainer critiques NPV Interstate Compact
The most cogent criticism here is that a very close national vote could cause problems for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
Charlie Cooper
Supreme Court has no agreement on code of ethics
Some conservatives are speaking out for action:
"The American Bar Association passed a resolution Monday that formally urges the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct, after more than two dozen legal ethics scholars previously wrote a letter in support of a code in March. 'The Supreme Court should have a code of ethics. Exclamation point. The end,' Stephen Saltzburg, a law professor and former Justice Department official who has been affiliated with the conservative Federalist Society, said in a statement through the ABA"
Charlie Cooper
Saturday, April 22, 2023
GMOM and Maryland PPC protest Clarence Thomas corruption at SCOTUS
Fox News in DC and Yahoo reported a protest at the Supreme Court regarding gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow to Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas failed to report large gifts of a period of many years. [The protest was organized by an associate of Ralph Nader.]
Charlie Cooper
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Progressive groups organize national drive to reform Supreme Court
The main push here is to motivate voters to vote for Congress and president with the aim to push the Court to the left.
Charlie Cooper with thanks to Chris Kang of Demand Justice.
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Dark money groups are trying get states to disqualify Trump presidential run under Amendment XIV
Two 501(c)4 organizations (who do not have to disclose donors) are trying to get Donald Trump disqualified under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars certain insurrectionists from running for office. They are organizing to be able to file papers to disqualify Trump in every state.
Charlie Cooper
NPR 1A podcast on Justice Thomas ethics revelations
Discussants include;
"Amanda Frost, professor of law at the University of Virginia and Joshua Kaplan, reporter at ProPublica. Also with us is Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.... of the Senate Judiciary Committee."
Tina Coplan
Monday, April 17, 2023
Federal agencies fail to implement Biden's executive order on voting rights
It is estimated that about 3.5 million voters could be added annually if the agencies do their job.
Charlie Cooper
Sunday, April 16, 2023
[The Washington Post] Clarence Thomas has for years claimed income from a defunct real estate firm
Clarence Thomas has for years claimed income from a defunct real estate firm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/16/clarence-thomas-ginger-financial-disclosure/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/16/clarence-thomas-ginger-financial-disclosure/
Charlie Cooper
Billionaire bought property from Clarence Thomas
Thomas, his brother, and his mother sold residential real estate to billionaire Dallas real estate developer Harlan Crow for $133,000 in 2014. Thomas failed to disclose the transaction as the law requires.
Charlie Cooper
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Friday, April 14, 2023
Civil and criminal complaint against Clarence Thomas
Filed by a public interest group.
Charlie Cooper
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Monday, April 10, 2023
Saturday, April 8, 2023
Summary of right-ring complaints about ERIC
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.judicialwatch.org/whats-wrong-with-eric/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYBCoTODczOTU4NDMzNTQ4NDk1NDMzNzIaZGYwOWIwOTE2NDk2ZTBiNzpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AOvVaw0gDfSWFXcKvMke4dI5IgFJ
They object to "left-wing" founders , states not automatically removing people from voter rolls after notice of possible duplicate registration, and voter registration efforts.
Charlie Cooper
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