The Supreme Court isn't doing too hot on regulating its own ethical standards, huh!

Wednesday, June 21, 2023
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA

- Rep Jerry Nadler (D-NY) ([link removed]) humiliating House GOP-appointed special counsel John Durham

I guess you can’t even go on a fishing trip with a greedy billionaire who’s trying to corrupt the entire government without it being a big deal anymore!

* Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has more in common with his colleague Clarence Thomas than just a commitment to made-up, dogshit jurisprudence. Like Thomas, Alito also has a “close personal friendship” with a conservative billionaire named Paul Singer who has, according to another blockbuster investigation by ProPublica ([link removed]) , “repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in high-stakes business disputes.” Singer’s hedge fund has come before the court at least 10 times, and Alito never recused himself, nor did he ever report the fishing trips or the private jet Singer chartered for him on his annual financial-disclosure forms.

* Alito’s relationship with Singer shines a light on the same deep rot of corruption as the even deeper ties between Thomas and his billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow. As one of the nation’s leading experts on recusals Charles Geyh succinctly put it: “If you were good friends, what were you doing ruling on his case? And if you weren’t good friends, what were you doing accepting [private jet flights]?” (Alito’s answer to that last question, hilariously, is that if he hadn’t flown on Singer’s jet, the seat he occupied would’ve remained empty.)

* Interestingly, the fishing trips funded by Singer were also attended and organized by Leonard Leo, the longtime head of the Federalist Society, and the same guy who introduced Thomas and Crow. What a funny coincidence! Makes you wonder which billionaires Leo lined up to be patrons for Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett… According to ProPublica, the reporters who broke the story sent Alito a detailed list of questions last week, and on Tuesday, the chief spokesperson for the Supreme Court said that Alito would not be commenting. Except, he did. Hours before ProPublica published its investigation, Alito cast aside any fig leaf of “nonpartisanship” by racing a prebuttal op-ed over to the Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) with the extremely subtle headline “ProPublica Misleads Its Readers.” Well okay then! (The Journal’s editors, of course, dutifully published it.)

So you’re telling me that the Supreme Court self-policing its own ethics isn’t actually working out?

* For years, the justices on our nation’s highest court have been “considering” an ethics plan, but have never been able to agree on a code of conduct for themselves ([link removed]) . It’s almost like you can’t trust the most powerful people in a country’s government to self-regulate! Furthermore, Chief Justice John Roberts has resisted congressional efforts to investigate and regulate judicial ethics in response to the revelation that Republican justices routinely accept lucrative bribes from right-wing billionaires

* The new disclosures about Justice Alito do seem to have finally put a fire under Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, who seemed mostly content to shrug it off after Chief Justice Roberts refused to cooperate with him. Durbin announced in a statement on Wednesday that the Judiciary Committee will vote on Supreme Court ethics legislation in July ([link removed]) , following a monthslong joint probe of the Court’s controversies with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Durbin described the Court as in the midst of an “ethical crisis of its own making,” and promised to push congressional action forward if Roberts does not address these issues.

Durbin and Whitehouse pledged to hold the vote on ethical standards legislation after the 4th of July recess, and employed what has become a favorite phrase among congressional Democrats: “the highest court in the land should not have the lowest ethical standards.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel has, for his part, promised to exhaust every effort to kill any such legislation, because he loves Republican bribery. But when Republicans eventually kill the legislation it’ll be up to Durbin and other leading Dems to exhaust their investigatory powers unearthing the extent of the corruption.

Catch up on Crooked’s newest limited series Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto - the podcast critics are calling “engrossing”, “fascinating” and “fun". Dreamtown covers the rise and fall of Adelanto, a small California city that was on the verge of collapse until a stranger came to town with a wild idea: make Adelanto the first city in Southern California to legalize commercial cannabis cultivation.

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We’re pretty sure Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) saw the conservative Supreme Court Justices failing to disclose lavish gifts and said, “How do I get in on that?” The Washington Post obtained records showing that Mori Hosseini, a major real-estate developer who chairs the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees, lent his golf simulator to the Governor’s Mansion, which required custom installation, and also let DeSantis and his wife use his private jet on at least 12 occasions, including as recently as February. Hosseini personally gave at least $361,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC, which supported his re-election and his associated campaigns. Ah yes, the GOP politician who loudly touts himself as “blue-collar,” and “salt-of-the-earth” who was “given nothing” ([link removed]) cannot stop taking private jets and accepting extravagant gifts from his donors in exchange for influence—tale a
s old as time. Campaign-finance disclosures for DeSantis’s PAC and campaign show at least 50 additional entries for in-kind contributions of transportation from companies that own private jets, just in the last two years!! Man of the people!!

The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed more ships and underwater vessels to search for the missing submersible carrying five passengers ([link removed]) who had intended to tour the wreckage of the Titanic.


The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the corporate behemoth of tricking users into signing up for its Prime subscription service ([link removed]) and then making it arduous for them to cancel it.


House Republicans voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) ([link removed]) over his role in leading the first impeachment inquiry into their beloved daddy god disgraced former president Donald Trump. After the vote, Schiff was ordered to stand on the House floor to receive a verbal admonishment read by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was immediately heckled by Democrats chanting “Shame!” and “Disgrace!”


President Biden referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator at a campaign event on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Chinese government responded by calling the statements “an open political provocation.” ([link removed])


Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded vote-by-mail access for people with disabilities, particularly those who need assistance marking their ballot ([link removed]) , because he is a demon sent from Hell, and has all the help he needs voting despite being disabled himself. Hope that clears things up!


A large explosion in Paris’ Left Bank left 16 people injured on Wednesday ([link removed]) . Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the blast.


Big Pharma’s most powerful lobbying group filed a long-anticipated lawsuit on Wednesday to challenge provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act ([link removed]) that allow Medicare to negotiate prices for certain drugs.
A new Gallup poll shows that abortion rights remain a potent issue in electoral politics ([link removed]) , particularly for pro-choice voters.

Disgraced former president Donald Trump has been slapping his name on real-estate deals with dubious characters for, at this point, most of his life. But according to interviews and hundreds of documents reviewed by the New York Times, a new deal in Oman is unlike any other international business agreement Trump and his family have signed before ([link removed]) . Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner (who you may recall, was supposed to fix foreign policy in the Middle East) cultivated ties with Oman during and after his presidency, and this deal puts Trump directly in business with the Omani government, which is providing the land for the development, and is investing heavily in the surrounding infrastructure. The government will also get a cut of the profits down the line. Naturally, Trump was brought into the deal by a Saudi real-estate firm that is in bed with Trump’s BFFs in the Saudi royal family—the same ones who paid
Kushner a $2 billion bribe shortly after he left the White House. Oman is a majority-Muslim nation ruled by a sultan under an absolute monarchy. It will shock you to learn that it is not, as Eric Trump described it, “like the Hamptons of the Middle East.” The country maintains close ties with Saudi Arabia and Iran, and is a major buyer of American military weapons. Neither the Saudi real-estate firm nor the Trump Organization would say how much money the Trump family stands to make from the deal, but we’re sure everything is above-board!
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Daniel Rodriguez, who used a stun gun on Washington, DC, police officer Michael Fanone, was sentenced to twelve-and-a-half years in prison on Wednesday ([link removed]) .


Democratic lawmakers in Michigan have passed a law eliminating means testing for SNAP ([link removed]) , which will greatly expand eligibility for those who need food assistance.


Beginning next year, all Washington, DC, public school children in grades four and up will receive menstrual-health education—regardless of gender ([link removed]) .


Georgia’s GOP-led State Election Board will not take over running elections in the Peach State’s most populous (heavily Democratic) county ([link removed]) .


One of the nation’s top abortion-rights attorneys, Julie Rikelman was confirmed to the federal bench on Tuesday ([link removed]) .


New York will end non-compete clauses in employment contracts ([link removed]) .

The feud between Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) officially boiled over today when Greene called Boebert a “little bitch” on the House floor ([link removed]) . We can only pray that someone (anyone!) captured it on video.
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