The highest court in the land has been making headlines as it faces allegations of corruption and Christian nationalism.
“There are days that I’ve come to my office after an announcement of a case and closed my door and cried.”
Such a revelation is unusual in that it was made at a recent lecture by Sonia Sotomayor, the liberal minority justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor commented on what she called the trauma of the impact of the ever more radical decisions of the solid conservative majority, such as the elimination of legal abortion two years ago.**
The highest court in the U.S. has recently been in the headlines as it faces allegations of corruption and Christian nationalism, concentrated on two of possibly the most obfuscatory justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — Thomas trailed by notoriety since his 1991 confirmation hearing when law professor Anita Hill accused him sexual harassment.
National polls in 2023 showed that the level of American distrust of the court’s nine justices reached a historic high. The justices hold lifetime appointments and do not answer to any other institution. Chief Justice John Roberts recently refused a request by the Senate Judiciary Committee testify about Alito and Thomas’ glaring conflicts of interest.
Last November, Roberts made just one concession, releasing a declaration of ethical principles of conduct which, because they are voluntary, are worthless. The code was announced after the first scandalous revelations about how Thomas has been fattened like a pig for decades with luxurious trips and gifts from billionaire friend Harlan Crow, who currently has a financial interest in four cases before the court.
Thomas is not the only one to sully the robe, just the most blatant. He has been accused of receiving gifts totaling more than $4 million over the past two decades. He refused to recuse himself from cases related to an attempted coup d’etat to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election in January 2021, although his fanatical wife, Ginni, was in Washington on the afternoon of the Capitol invasion texting the house speaker imploring her to sabotage the certification of Electoral College votes to keep Trump in power.***
The New York Times reported in May that, after the attack on the Capitol, an inverted American flag associated with the insurrection was flown in front of Alito’s residence. He blamed his wife, Martha-Ann, but he lied about his involvement, because soon after, the Times reported that another extremist flag used by people who attacked the Capitol had been flying for months outside the Alitos’ beach house in New Jersey.
A flag is not a shirt. Alito does not have the impartiality, much less the moral stature, to rule on the most important case facing the court this session. The court is expected to rule this month whether Trump, accused of multiple federal and state crimes, including charges related to the attempted insurrection, is immune from prosecution.
A Democratic activist passing as a conservative at a gathering this week secretly recorded Samuel and Martha-Ann Alito admitting their radical views, homophobic attitudes and resentment of most Americans who believe in the constitutional separation of church and state.
About his vision of the country, Justice Alito had several unbridled things to say. In response to a need to return the country to a state of godliness, he said, “I agree … One side or the other is going to win. … [T]here are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.”
*Editor’s Note: This article is available in its original language with a paid subscription.
**Editor’s Note: The Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade, overturning constitutional protections at the federal level, but giving individual states the right to determine the legality of abortion.
***Editor’s Note: The author’s allegations that Ginni Thomas reached out to the house speaker on Jan. 6, 2021 are unverified.
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