Since America is supposed to be a nation of laws, even though those laws
are not enforced universally, the people expect the judiciary to be
impartial, transparent and adhere to the highest ethical standards. For
all but nine American judges, the nation’s judiciary is held to high
ethical standards because they have to adhere to a “
judicial code of conduct.”
Perhaps it is because they are appointed for life, or are completely
exempt from adhering to any kind of ethics code, conservative Supreme
Court Justices have blatantly flouted ethical standards every federal
judge in America is required to follow.
For the second time in as many years, Democratic
legislators in Congress are calling on the Supreme Court to finally, at
long last, adopt a code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices to rein in wingnut Justices working for wingnut, corporate, and religious cabals. The
bill, “
The Supreme Court Ethics Act of 2015″
that was recently reintroduced would to media silence, if passed by the
Koch brothers’ Congress, requires the Supreme Court to adopt a code of
the ethics within 180 days. There is little hope the Koch brothers will
allow Republicans to be for the legislation eliminating their
substantial influence over at least two, and likely three, of the High
Court’s wingnut Justices.
As it stands now, the nine Supreme Court justices
are so powerful that they are currently exempt from adhering to the code
of conduct all other U.S. judges are required to follow; an ethics code
to ensure there is a semblance of neutrality and transparency in the
nation’s federal courts. It is a requirement that the American people
support overwhelmingly, and if enacted may well lead the population to
believe that the highest court in the land is not working solely for the
rich and religious entities controlling the five conservatives on the
Court.
In the latest polling from Gallup, the American
people’s faith in the High Court as an independent, transparent, and
fair entity is a despicable 30 percent; likely because of a recent rash
of wingnut rulings based on the demands of powerful special
interest and religious cabals. The solution is a simple fix requiring
the Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from cases where they
have a blatant, often monetary conflict of interest, and finally
restrict them from engaging in political activities to raise money and
awareness for wingnut causes; specifically corporate and religious
causes.
New legislation introduced by Representative Louise
Slaughter is a reiteration of a 2012 bill that has an updated title,
“the Supreme Court Ethics Act of 2015.” The new legislation, if by a
world-shaking miracle, was passed by the Koch Congress will be a huge
step toward ensuring that wingnut Justices start “ruling fairly and
start conducting themselves in ways that uphold the impartiality and
integrity of the judiciary.” Several rulings over the past five years by
the wingnut Court belie any belief that integrity and impartiality
exists in at least three of the Court’s wingnut puppets.
According to Senator Chris Murphy (D-CN) “
there
is absolutely no reason why Supreme Court Justices shouldn’t be subject
to the same code of conduct as all other federal judges. The American
people deserve to know that our highest court is held to the highest
ethical standards, which is why we introduced the Supreme Court Ethics
Act of 2015.” All other Federal judges are held to high ethical standards due to
requirements
in “The Code of Conduct for United States Judges.” Supreme Court
conservative Justices not only have no intent, much less obligation to
adhere to the Code of Conduct, it is fairly well known that some of them
refuse to even “
avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities.”
This is not the first, or even the second, time
legislators have attempted to hold Supreme Court Justices to the same
standards as every other federal judge. A similar bill was introduced in
1973, and
again
in 2013, and three years ago 212 legal scholars recognized the pressing
need for an code of ethics and appealed to Chief Justice John Roberts
in a letter “
urging him to adopt a code of conduct for the Justices.”
Roberts has also received a petition signed by 130,000 Americans (so
far) begging him to adopt and enforce some kind of ethics code for the
High Court; likely because the public knows that wingnut Justices,
particularly Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, are closely tied to,
and committed to serve the Koch brothers, wingnut delusion tanks,
evangelicals, and corporations.
Democratic legislators say, and rightly so, that
Congress has the purview to create a Supreme Court Code of Conduct
because it legally determines how many Justices sit on the Court as well
as how much they are paid by the federal government, not the Koch
brothers or wingnut delusion tanks. In a press release, the bill’s
author, Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) said “The
questionable activities of some of our Supreme Court justices have been
well documented — participating in political functions, failing to
report family income from political groups, and attending political
fundraisers. It doesn’t make sense that members of the highest court in
the land are the only federal judges exempt from the code of conduct.”
Slaughter was referring to Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas Koch-funded attendance at a highly-secret Koch brother
strategy meeting
and corporate fundraiser with Citizens United plaintiffs prior to
hearing and ruling that corporations are exempt from campaign finance
laws according to their 1st Amendment right of free speech. She also
noted that Clarence Thomas deliberately
concealed
hundreds-of-thousands of dollars paid to his wife by the
“anti-Obamacare” wingnut Heritage Foundation to lobby against the
Affordable Care Act; even while the Supreme Court was taking up the
Constitutionality of the healthcare insurance reform law. Last year,
Justice Samuel Alito was the featured guest
speaker
at a $25,000-a-head political fundraiser for a wingnut magazine cabal, American Spectator. There is no way of knowing whether or how
much Alito earned as a featured speaker because there is no Supreme
Court Code of Ethics. Regardless of whether he earned one penny, Alito
like Scalia, did use his status and position as a Supreme Court Justice
to raise money for wingnuts.
It is an affront to Americans, and frankly the rule
of law, that every judge in America is held to some kind of ethical
standards except the nine Supreme Court Justices with the power to
interpret the Constitutionality of any and every law in the nation. Over
the past five years, particularly, the American people have suffered
the consequences, including the selling of their democracy to the rich
and powerful, of a High Court without a code of judicial conduct.
It
is true there is no guarantee that a judicial “ethics or conduct code”
will ensure transparency and neutrality, especially among the Koch wingnuts on the Court. It may, however, serve as a reminder to
Justices that they are not above following basic judicial ethics
standards; something the Koch brothers will never allow “their”
Republican Congress to enact or enforce. If, by some Earth-shaking
miracle Congress did enact a Supreme Court Ethics Code, it is likely
that the 5 wingnuts on the High Court would rule it
unconstitutional.
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