LA Times editor poses scenarios where Dems lose the national popular vote but win the Electoral College. He also argues that Dems should gerrymander where they have an advantage.
Charlie Cooper
Sunday, July 16, 2023
GOP ethics expert criticizes payments to Clarence Thomas aide
An aide to Clarence Thomas received several payments via Venmo in connection with a "CT Christmas Party." The payments were from former Thomas law clerks who now may have business before the Court, including one who recently successfully argued the case on affirmative action in university admissions.
"Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W Bush administration and has been a vocal critic of the role of dark money in politics, said it was 'not appropriate' for former Thomas law clerks who were established in private practice to – in effect – send money to the supreme court via Venmo. . . . [sic]
"Painter said he would possibly make an exception if recent law clerks were paying their own way for a party. But almost all of the lawyers who made the payments are senior litigators at big law firms."
Charlie Cooper
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Planning A Simcha?
Supreme Court justices receive luxury travel in exchange for university appearances
"Documents obtained by The Associated Press through public records requests reveal that some all-expenses-paid trips — to Italy, Iceland and Hawaii, among others — are light on classroom instruction, with ample time carved out for the justices' leisure." Justices of all political leanings have benefited.
Charlie Cooper
AP investigation finds many more Supreme Court ethics lapses
Justices have used their staff to promote their book sales. They have attended campus fundraising events where wealthy donors to the university -- some of whom later have business before the Court -- receive special access to the justices. The questionable practices are not limited by political leaning.
"Lower court federal judges are generally barred from engaging in fundraising, political activity and 'lending the prestige of judicial office' to advance a judge's own 'private interests,'" but the Supreme Court's ethics principles and disclosure practices are much less stringent than those applied to other judges, Congress, or the Executive branch.
"[T]he Supreme Court's definition of banned fundraising is so narrow -– simply an event that raises more than it costs or where guests are asked for donations -– that it does not account for soliciting contributors later while reminding them of the special access they were afforded."
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Why the Supreme Court should be expanded
I wrote this LTE counter talk of "Court packing" whenever the topic of expanding the number of justices on SCOTUS is raised. There are many good reasons to expand, and it could be phased in over several presidential terms to counter "packing" charges.
Charlie Cooper
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Elena Kagan says SCOTUS student loan decision is unconstitutional
Kagan says that the Court's interpretation of a statute allowing the Department of Education to waive or modify student loan terms during a national emergency should have been left with the political branches that are more responsive to the electorate. She wrote:
"From the first page to the last, today's opinion departs from the demands of judicial restraint," .... "At the behest of a party that has suffered no injury, the majority decides a contested public policy issue properly belonging to the politically accountable branches and the people they represent. |
"That is a major problem not just for governance, but for democracy too. Congress is of course a democratic institution; it responds, even if imperfectly, to the preferences of American voters. And agency officials, though not themselves elected, serve a President with the broadest of all political constituencies. But this Court? It is, by design, as detached as possible from the body politic. That is why the Court is supposed to stick to its business — to decide only cases and controversies, and to stay away from making this Nation's policy about subjects like student-loan relief.... |
"[The Court] exercises authority it does not have. It violates the Constitution." |
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