The LuLac Edition #4,711, April 7th, 2022

 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our “Write On Wednesday” logo.

This week we feature an Editorial from Times Sghamock on the Supreme court and the need for ethics on the panel.

SCOTUS NEEDS ETHICS RULES

Long before Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni, was revealed to be an enthusiastic cheerleader for insurrection, ethics problems dogged him and other justices.

Now that Mrs. Thomas’ emails to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6, 2021, have been revealed, Thomas should recuse himself from any cases arising from the insurrection. But he probably will not do so. Chief Justice John Roberts has no authority to force his recusal.

The Supreme Court has exempted itself from recusal standards that it imposes on the rest of the judiciary, so such decisions are each justice’s alone. All of them have potential issues.

The nonprofit advocacy group Fix the Court tracks justices’ potential conflicts. Thomas, for example, attended a Koch Industries-funded retreat in 2008 at the same time that Koch bankrolled cases before the court.

Roberts and several other justices, including Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito, declined to recuse themselves from several cases despite holding stock in some of the involved companies.

Justice Neil Gorsuch declined to recuse himself from a case involving a publisher from which he had received a $650,000 advance, and Justice Sonia Sotamayor had a similar issue.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not recuse herself from a case involving the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, even though Americans for Prosperity had spent more than $1 million in a campaign for her confirmation.

Justice Elena Kagan heard an Obamacare case even though she had helped craft Obamacare legal defenses while working for the Obama administration.

Congress or the court clearly need to establish ethics and recusal standards that require them to at least disclose their relationships with parties before the court.