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Hi,
The Supreme Court just began its new term amid a massive cloud of scandal, and one of the biggest cases on the docket could hand huge tax breaks to corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Goldman Sachs.
And now we’ve learned that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito personally own stock in 19 companies that could gain nearly $30 billion from a favorable ruling.1
If these justices followed basic judicial ethics, they would recuse themselves in cases where they stand to benefit financially, but Roberts and Alito have proven they won’t step aside unless they’re forced to — and that’s where we come in.
Demand Progress has launched a major public campaign calling out the justices for failing to recuse themselves and demanding Congress take action to pass a mandatory code of ethics for the Supreme Court. Now’s the time to turn up the pressure.
Will you make a donation to help stop the Supreme Court’s corruption and push for other reforms?
In Moore v. U.S., the Supreme Court is being asked to give a $350 billion tax windfall to the nation’s wealthiest corporations and individuals by declaring a key provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act unconstitutional.
In addition, the case could result in all wealth taxes being declared unconstitutional, at the same time that proposals like Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax legislation are gaining momentum with the public.2
Meanwhile, the public has been hearing for months about Supreme Court justices getting millions of dollars’ worth of gifts and payouts from billionaires:
- Clarence Thomas has gotten millions of dollars’ worth of luxury gifts and payouts from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow and others, while helping right-wing lobbying groups with fundraising.3
- Neil Gorsuch hid the $1.85 million sale of a property that had languished on the market for two years to the head of a corporate law firm that regularly argues in front of the Supreme Court.4
- Alito secretly took a lavish, $100,000 trip to Alaska bankrolled by a megadonor with cases before the court and gave a friendly interview to the lawyer arguing Moore v. U.S.5,6
- Roberts’s wife was secretly paid tens of millions of dollars by corporate law firms that regularly argue before the Supreme Court.7
Many of the exact people who have been shoveling money into the justices’ pockets and treating them to luxury vacations stand to benefit as a result of this decision, and now we know that Alito and Roberts could personally enrich themselves by boosting the value of the stock they hold.
With all these scandals coming to a head and the Supreme Court about to hear a case that could directly profit so many of the justices personally as well as their many wealthy benefactors, this is the perfect time to mobilize political pressure and demand Congress pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act.
With gratitude for all that you do,
Tihi and the team at Demand Progress Action
Sources:
1. The Lever, "Justices Have Financial Interest In Major Tax Case," September 27, 2023.
2. Tax Policy Center, "Prospects for 'Moore' Damage to Our Tax Code," July 3, 2023.
3. Forbes, "Clarence Thomas: Here Are All The Ethics Scandals Involving The Supreme Court Justice Amid Koch Network Revelations," September 22, 2023.
4. Politico, "Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property," April 25, 2023.
5. The New York Times, "Justice Alito Defends Private Jet Travel to Luxury Fishing Trip," June 21, 2023.
6. Forbes, "Samuel Alito Refuses To Recuse From Supreme Court Case With Attorney Who Interviewed Him For Wall Street Journal," September 8, 2023.
7. The New York Times, "At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse’s Business Ties," January 31, 2023.
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