Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire

[ZiprHead]

Yep, rich people gonna rich, no matter who they are or what their job is. I think it's hilarious that he mentions RV-ing in the Walmart parking lot, like he has to quickly come up with something he thinks ordinary people do. You don't have to read too much into some of the Supreme Court's decisions to conclude that they have no idea how ordinary people in the United States actually live their lives. Their baseline seems to be Lifestyle of Affluent, Well-Connected White People.

But yeah, because rich people gonna rich, that's why we have the disclosure rules. We don't stop them from doing what they are naturally going to do. And power attracts money. Harlan Crow protests, "He's been my personal friend for 25 years." Well, yeah, but he's been a Supreme Court justice for 32, and that's more likely to be why you're friends with him. Currying favor for a long time doesn't make less suspicious. People with lots of money are going to try to influence people with lots of power. That's just human nature. But do it out in the open instead of under the table, so we can decide for ourselves whether to have faith in some particular decision or action. It's the hypocrisy of requiring everyone else at that level in government to disclose what they receive from their rich friends, but somehow the nine most individually powerful people in the United States get to keep it a secret. That's the part I'm not okay with.

I don't think I've ever seen George Soros do anything like this.

 

[Oystein]

This gets weirder by the day:

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-real-estate-scotus

Summary:

• In 2014, billionaire Harlan Crow bought from Clarence Thomas and family the house in which Thomas' mother still lived, plus two empty lots, for US$ $133,363
• This alone is probably a violation of a law that requires justices to disclose the details of most real estate sales over $1,000.
• But then, Crow invested into Ma Thomas' house by having it improved to the tune of further tens of thousands of $$$ - money that can essentially be described as a gift to the Thomas family. Undisclosed, of course.

This is appaerently the first occurrence come to light of Justice Thomas receiving, and not disclosing, actual money from Crow.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

We can safely assume that Roberts knew all about this already.
That means that it is his obligation to get Thomas to resign if he is actually interested in reputation of the Court.

Of course, it is highly likely that he also got pampered by Crow and other Megadonors

 

[Suddenly]

We can safely assume that Roberts knew all about this already.
That means that it is his obligation to get Thomas to resign if he is actually interested in reputation of the Court.

Of course, it is highly likely that he also got pampered by Crow and other Megadonors

Roberts has only slightly more power over Thomas than you do.

Scalia was being pampered in this way when he died so it's not like this is some novel thing. He managed to never be caught taking money though..

 

[Beelzebuddy]

No current Democratic governor is going to do that, especially one with presidential aspirations like Newsom.

I disagree. I think thumbing one's nose at an obvious stacked court is exactly what someone with presidential aspirations should do right now. If you want more power, use what you have to its fullest instead of sitting on your hands waiting for a mandate to fall into your lap. "He has made his ruling, now let him enforce it" is settled precedent, you wouldn't even be making history.

Whether any sitting governor has the balls to pull that trigger is a different matter, of course. It would involve dropping the well-loved but long-fictional bipartisan pretense that we're all in this boat together.

 

[ZiprHead]

The thread title sounds like a sitcom from the eighties.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Roberts has only slightly more power over Thomas than you do.

.

You underestimate how much power I have over Thomas.
If he doesn't resign, I can make his life a living Hell!

By ordering pizza to his house he doesn't want!
Maybe even escalate to bags of flaming poo!

 

[Donal]

I disagree. I think thumbing one's nose at an obvious stacked court is exactly what someone with presidential aspirations should do right now. If you want more power, use what you have to its fullest instead of sitting on your hands waiting for a mandate to fall into your lap. "He has made his ruling, now let him enforce it" is settled precedent, you wouldn't even be making history.

Whether any sitting governor has the balls to pull that trigger is a different matter, of course. It would involve dropping the well-loved but long-fictional bipartisan pretense that we're all in this boat together.

And then the centrists will both sides it to hell and there go your aspirations.

 

[Suddenly]

I disagree. I think thumbing one's nose at an obvious stacked court is exactly what someone with presidential aspirations should do right now. If you want more power, use what you have to its fullest instead of sitting on your hands waiting for a mandate to fall into your lap. "He has made his ruling, now let him enforce it" is settled precedent, you wouldn't even be making history.

Whether any sitting governor has the balls to pull that trigger is a different matter, of course. It would involve dropping the well-loved but long-fictional bipartisan pretense that we're all in this boat together.

The last sentence is the problem. There are too many people in the Democratic party who will fight its own to the death for seriously threatening the primacy of the Court.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Scalia was being pampered in this way when he died

I had heard a rumor his death was during fetish play, but I'd assumed he was just a regular furry.

 

[TragicMonkey]

The thread title sounds like a sitcom from the eighties.

Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire episode list:

Pilot: I Need A Hill
Silence in Court
Recusal Refusal
My Wife, The Traitor
Supremature Ejaculation
Billionaire Bedfellows
Abortion Contortion
Mo' Money, Less Problems
Civil Wrongs
The New Justice Is Blind Drunk
Hollaback Girl Xmas Special

 

[Beelzebuddy]

And then the centrists will both sides it to hell and there go your aspirations.

They're going to do that anyway, you might as well come out swinging.

 

[Stacyhs]

And then the centrists will both sides it to hell and there go your aspirations.

Why the centrists? Extremists don't ever play the 'both sides it' card?

 

[wareyin]

Why the centrists? Extremists don't ever play the 'both sides it' card?

No, extremists say that there's no difference to the sides. 'Joe Biden is a Republican' type stuff. eta: Or from the other side, "RINO"

 

[Donal]

Why the centrists? Extremists don't ever play the 'both sides it' card?

Reactionary centrists are extremists. When you cling so strongly to an ideology that you will hold it above all reason, no matter how many people have to die, no matter how much destruction it has wrought, you are an extremist. Put aside the false 1 dimensional spectrum of how we typically think of politics.

 

[Stacyhs]

Reactionary centrists are extremists. When you cling so strongly to an ideology that you will hold it above all reason, no matter how many people have to die, no matter how much destruction it has wrought, you are an extremist. Put aside the false 1 dimensional spectrum of how we typically think of politics.

I agree with the above being true about extremists but you didn't say 'reactionary' extremists; you just said 'centrists'. Besides, since "a reactionary is a person who wants to reverse political changes and seeks to restore society to a state believed to have existed before," I don't see how centrists are reactionaries. That name seems to fit the MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN crowd.

 

[Susheel]

Brief diversion...any idea about the odds on Ginni Thomas being the source of the SCOTUS leak.
Also, weren't the couple Moonies at some point?

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Why the centrists? Extremists don't ever play the 'both sides it' card?

Because, when the push comes to the shove, centrists turn out to be decidedly right wing.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Brief diversion...any idea about the odds on Ginni Thomas being the source of the SCOTUS leak.
Also, weren't the couple Moonies at some point?

Smart money's still on Alito or somebody obeying his orders.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

This is so similar with Trump in that the assumption seems to be that once you are in a Position of Power, you should be above the laws and rules.

I would vehemently argue that those we put in power should be under more scrutiny and face more serious consequences for violating the rules than joe shmo who's actions will never be that all that consequential.