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Thread: How much does a judge cost?

  1. #1

    Default How much does a judge cost?

    Clarence Thomas and the billionaire:

    https://www.propublica.org/article/c...vel-gifts-crow

    I dunno, I wouldn't pay that much for the dumbest, weirdest judge on the court.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  2. #2
    If he had any shame, he'd resign. But we know he doesn't.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  3. #3
    America's judges aren't for sale at any price. They can, however, be rented remarkably cheaply.
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  4. #4
    I mean, if I were a Republican, I'd feel a great deal of fremdschämen over this naked corruption. Not disclosing these gifts is against the law. Never mind resigning—motherfucker should be prosecuted
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  5. #5
    See what happened to George Santos.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  6. #6
    I wish I could still be surprised by the corruption in this illegitimate supreme court.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    I mean, if I were a Republican, I'd feel a great deal of fremdschämen over this naked corruption. Not disclosing these gifts is against the law. Never mind resigning—motherfucker should be prosecuted
    Ethical violations aren't prosecutable, they're impeachable. And of course the Republicans aren't going to stand for that. And he's not going to resign because he'll say this is only reportable now because the ethical guidelines were changed (i.e. the recent clarifications mentioned in the article)
    Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    I wish I could still be surprised by the corruption in this illegitimate supreme court.
    Just because the negro wanted to save a seat doesn't make them "illegitimate", you know this.
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  9. #9
    sorry but Republicans are so fucking weird

    https://www.washingtonian.com/2023/0...ler-artifacts/
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by LittleFuzzy View Post
    Ethical violations aren't prosecutable, they're impeachable. And of course the Republicans aren't going to stand for that. And he's not going to resign because he'll say this is only reportable now because the ethical guidelines were changed (i.e. the recent clarifications mentioned in the article)
    Okay, I thought the failure to disclose those gifts constituted a violation of a specific statute rather than just being a violation of ethical norms.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    Okay, I thought the failure to disclose those gifts constituted a violation of a specific statute rather than just being a violation of ethical norms.
    It is. I don't know the statutes to cite but as far as I can tell the authorizing source is the Ethics of Government Act of 1978. And that specifies civil action only.

    § 504. Civil Penalties
    (a) CIVILACTION.—The Attorney General may
    bring a civil action in any appropriate United
    States district court against any individual who
    violates any provision of section 501 or 502. The
    court in which such action is brought may as-
    sess against such individual a civil penalty of
    notmorethan$10,000ortheamountofcom-
    pensation, if any, which the individual received
    for the prohibited conduct, whichever is greater.
    (b) ADVISORYOPINIONS.—Any entity described
    in section 503 may render advisory opinions in-
    terpreting this title, in writing, to individuals
    covered by this title. Any individual to whom
    suchanadvisoryopinionisrenderedandany
    other individual covered by this title who is in-
    volved in a fact situation which is indistinguish-
    able in all material aspects, and who, after the
    issuance of such advisory opinion, acts in good
    faith in accordance with its provisions and find-
    ings shall not, as a result of such actions, be
    subject to any sanction under subsection (a).
    Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    sorry but Republicans are so fucking weird

    https://www.washingtonian.com/2023/0...ler-artifacts/
    I think we're at the point where they're not even pretending to be anything other than fascist cunts now.

  13. #13
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    Now THAT one can't be ignored under the "well, the rules didn't specifically state this fell under the requirements and when I sought guidance I was told it didn't" excuse he used previously. Republicans still won't impeach but they have no cover whatsoever for a refusal to do so anymore.
    Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"

  15. #15
    Time for the "I'm too stupid to be criminally liable" defense:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...al-disclosure/

    Clarence Thomas has for years claimed income from a defunct real estate firm


    Over the last two decades, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has reported on required financial disclosure forms that his family received rental income totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a firm called Ginger, Ltd., Partnership.

    But that company — a Nebraska real estate firm launched in the 1980s by his wife and her relatives — has not existed since 2006.

    That year, the family real estate company was shut down and a separate firm was created, state incorporation records show. The similarly named firm assumed control of the shuttered company’s land leasing business, according to property records.

    Since that time, however, Thomas has continued to report income from the defunct company — between $50,000 and $100,000 annually in recent years — and there is no mention of the newer firm, Ginger Holdings, LLC, on the forms.

    [...]

    Thomas’s income from the firm he describes as “Ginger, Ltd., Partnership” on the financial disclosure forms has grown substantially over the last decade, though the precise amounts are unknown because the forms require only that ranges be reported. In total, he has reported receiving between $270,000 to $750,000 from the firm since 2006, describing it as “rent.” Thomas’s salary as a justice this year is $285,000.

    The company’s roots trace back to two lakeside neighborhoods developed decades ago by Ginni Thomas’s late parents in a community in Douglas County, just outside of Omaha.

    Ginger Limited Partnership was created in 1982 to sell and lease real estate, state incorporation records show, and its partners were Ginni Thomas, her parents and her three siblings. The firm owned and leased out residential lots in two developments, Ginger Woods and Ginger Cove, collecting rent annually from each occupied plot of land, according to copies of lease agreements on file with the county.

    When he was nominated to a federal appeals court in 1990, Thomas listed the firm in a financial statement as one of his wife’s assets — worth $15,000 at the time.

    The firm was dissolved in March 2006. Around the same time, Ginger Holdings, LLC was created in Nebraska, according to state records, which list the same business address as the shuttered company and name Joanne K. Elliott, the sister of Ginni Thomas, as manager.

    The same month, the leases for more than 200 residential lots in Ginger Woods and Ginger Cove were transferred from Ginger Limited Partnership to Ginger Holdings, LLC, property records in Douglas County show.

    Reached by phone, Elliott referred questions about the two companies to Ginni Thomas.

    “You could call her and she could answer anything that she wants you to know,” Elliott said before hanging up.

    Ginni Thomas is not named in state incorporation records related to Ginger Holdings, LLC.

    In his most recent disclosure, in 2021, Thomas estimated that his family’s interest in Ginger Limited Partnership, the defunct firm, was worth between $250,000 and $500,000. He reported receiving an income from it between $50,000 and $100,000 that year.

    [...]

    Ginni Thomas earned more than $686,000 from the conservative Heritage Foundation from 2003 until 2007, according to the nonprofit’s tax forms. Clarence Thomas checked a box labeled “none” for his wife’s income during that period. He had done the same in 2008 and 2009 when she worked for conservative Hillsdale College.

    Thomas acknowledged the error when he amended those filings in 2011. He wrote that the information had been “inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.”

    In some years before those omissions, however, Thomas had correctly reported his wife’s employment.

    Thomas failed to report the sale of the three Georgia properties to Crow in 2014, and he also continued to report that he owned a share of those properties as late as 2015, his disclosure forms show. In addition, beginning in 2010, his disclosures described the properties as being located in Liberty County, Ga., even though they were actually located in Chatham County.

    Thomas also did not report reimbursement for transportation, meals and lodging while teaching at the universities of Kansas and Georgia in 2018. After the omission was flagged by the nonprofit Fix the Court, Thomas amended his filing for that year. He also amended his 2017 filing, on which he had left off similar reimbursements while teaching at Creighton Law School, his wife’s alma mater.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  16. #16
    You're expecting a Supreme Court justice to know the law?
    Hope is the denial of reality

  17. #17
    Why would he when he can just ask a Nazi what the law should be?

    I don't understand how anyone can find this remotely tolerable.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Why would he when he can just ask a Nazi what the law should be?

    I don't understand how anyone can find this remotely tolerable.
    He made sure his mother gets to live rent-free in the property he sold to the weird Nazi collector, that's pretty nice I guess.

    Whatever you do, don't read this article: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/17/p...nor/index.html
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  19. #19
    Senior Member
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    So Thomas was basically doing what you expect criminals to do when they're whitewashing their money?
    Congratulations America

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    Why would he when he can just ask a Nazi what the law should be?

    I don't understand how anyone can find this remotely tolerable.
    I'm curious, what do you think "anyone" in your example could do about this? Of course we can't say things that'd trigger the FBI, but in other general terms.
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  21. #21
    Oh look, Gorsuch is also corrupt.

    Quote Originally Posted by Nessus View Post
    I'm curious, what do you think "anyone" in your example could do about this? Of course we can't say things that'd trigger the FBI, but in other general terms.
    I think not defending or supporting them would be a nice start. If people really want to get crazy, they could also stop voting for people who do that too. Letters to representatives or protests if you're a complete psycho.

    To be frank, the whole "What can anyone do about it?" attitude is why this shit keeps happening and these fuckers keep getting away with it. The fascists are willing to throw huge fits to protect their ilk or persecute whatever their hated group of the week is, and they're a minority. Not even that large of one. They only get to be the loudest voices in the country when everyone else lets them be. So why does everyone keep letting them be, and let them keep getting away with their bullshit?

  22. #22
    I was serious with my question, instead of my usual nihilism. What can anyone do? I'm a fascist, and I vote for my local fascist party, and they're negotiating to be a part of the government coalition at the moment. They might get rejected by the more conservative liberal shit-house party, but I did my part for fascism.

    What can a person in the United States of America do about fascism? You have democrats defecting to the fascist party, presumably against their voters' wishes, and it's not like Sleepy Joe is really inspiring confidence in his gerontocracy.
    In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
    The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

  23. #23
    Senior Member
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    Jan 2010
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    I think we have reached one of those points in history where we no longer can assume things will settle themselves peacefully. The institutions are breaking down, not because they dramatically changed, but because people no longer are willing to compromise on anything. The Middle has broken so to say. Your choice for fascism has the appearance of clarity but is in reality just another route to destroy the institutions that defined our societies. I have no hope for it bringing anything substantially better.

    When I look at the elections here in Turkey I see the same. The first time there is a slight chance for regime change, the opposition has no real alternative.

    We live in interesting times.
    Congratulations America

  24. #24
    John Roberts' Wife Made Millions From Elite Law Firms, Major Companies

    "When I found out that the spouse of the chief justice was soliciting business from law firms, I knew immediately that it was wrong," Price, who worked alongside Sullivan Roberts from 2011-2013 at Major, Lindsey & Africa, told Business Insider. "During the time I was there, I was discouraged from ever raising the issue. And I realized that even the law firms who were Jane's clients had nowhere to go. They were being asked by the spouse of the chief justice for business worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and there was no one to complain to. Most of these firms were likely appearing or seeking to appear before the Supreme Court. It's natural that they'd do anything they felt was necessary to be competitive."
    This is ridiculous. This Supreme Court is so corrupt and illegitimate it cannot be redeemed. Might be getting close to time to just burn it all down and start over.

  25. #25
    But Scalia Law quickly moved to the front of the line, in part by offering generous benefits. For teaching summer courses that generally ran for up to two weeks, Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh each made salaries that approached the legal cap on certain outside income, roughly $30,000 in recent years.

    The school also creates bespoke programs for the justices in far-flung locations. Justice Gorsuch has traveled to Iceland and Italy to teach; Justice Kavanaugh has taught in Britain. During the first pandemic summer, both justices pressed on with their classes, teaching at stateside resorts. (Only Justice Thomas has routinely held his classes on campus, with two of his former clerks as co-professors.)
    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/u...aw-school.html

    It keeps getting better.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  26. #26
    This Supreme Court is slow to issue rulings — glacially slow



    Corrupt & incompetent.

    And Gorsuch has the audacity to whine about why nobody's defending the court.

  27. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Wraith View Post
    John Roberts' Wife Made Millions From Elite Law Firms, Major Companies



    This is ridiculous. This Supreme Court is so corrupt and illegitimate it cannot be redeemed. Might be getting close to time to just burn it all down and start over.
    Telling that all 9 justices signed the "ethics? no thanks" letter. I don't really care for the WHCD, but the "Clarence Thomas NFT" bit was as savage as it was spot on.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  28. #28
    "Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition."

    https://www.propublica.org/article/c...tuition-scotus

    it's 2023 why is everyone so mad that some dude has a sugardaddy??
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  29. #29

  30. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    "Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition."

    https://www.propublica.org/article/c...tuition-scotus

    it's 2023 why is everyone so mad that some dude has a sugardaddy??
    Just because Thomas has his nazi buddy paying for Thomas's mother's home, his kid's private school, his wife's employment, and his own vacations, that doesn't mean anything other than that Thomas is the Nazi's employee! Totally normal.

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