Once again, I just want to say that lavish gifts to Supreme Court justices shouldn’t just be “disclosed.” They should be banned, outright. This should not be a radical position.
@rbreich
Many years ago I realized that if the #Mafia ever designed a political system it would look EXACTLY like the US.
Judges for life, easily bought.
Elected Police Chiefs, easily bought.
Electoral colleges, easily bought. etc.
It did not affect most folk too much, life had to go on in order to skim the cream from the top. But now Russia had outbid the Mafia they WANT the system to collapse.
@rbreich
We shouldn’t be at all surprised given they just rules that “gratuities” given after the fact aren’t considered bribes and are not illegal anymore.
The US Military had a limit of $20 total value of gifts from working associates. The SCOTUS has no limits, I guess. Makes sense because soldiers were protecting us from falling into a fascist state and billionaires are for protecting people who would make them more $billions.
@rbreich I think your description of this activity contributes to the problem. Describing buying judges as giving gifts is weak at best. It's the blatant purchase and ownership of a Supreme court judge This is far more than unethical, it is simply criminal and you are afraid to call it what it is. I really, really don't think there is anything noble about what you do, you constantly condition people to believe criminality is just unethical, backhanded watering down egregious corruption, slick
@rbreich they are banned and illegal. The fact that the Supreme Court disagrees with what words mean and claims they're not subject to the same laws as other federal judges are is an impeachable offense.
Congress must impeach, remove from office and procecute.
Stop normalizing the idea that they are above the law.
@rbreich SCOTUS can decide cases however they like. But when they make decisions out of step with society as a whole, they undermine the entire system, losing public respect and paving the way to mob violence.
@rbreich If I had my way, all elected federal officials would work for the minimum wage they themselves set, and earn not one penny more during their terms. They'd be banned from employment from any corporation lobbying Congress for 5 years after leaving office. Divestment into a common fund. Profits to the general fund. Losses from their divestment.
We must love corruption in government. We've left the door open, all of our money on the kitchen table & let people our plunderers bribe judge us.
@rbreich I have a great team at NAVAHCS (Northern AZ VA Health Care System) who looks after me with caring, dignity and professionalism. Yet, I can't gift them anything over $15 for going out of their way take care of me.
Most government employees, at the state and federal levels, have statutory limits on gifts. These are tied to the relationship with the giver: you can't take a big gift from a lobbyist, contractor, subordinate, etc.
Given the immense power justices have, those limits should simply apply to everyone outside family. No one else should be allowed to give a gift worth more than a few dollars to a justice.
@rbreich - I can only speak from a UK GP position, but here gifts from pharmaceutical companies (that might be seen as an inducement) are limited to £6. GPs are not permitted to accept personal cash gifts of any amount other than genuine professional fees. GPs and individual members of staff may retain personal non-cash gifts made by patients which are of a trivial nature (with a guide value up to £25.00). Lavish gifts are corrupt and ought to be illegal.