Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The US Supreme Court has an integrity problem, freshly illustrated by their decision to allow a clearly racially motivated South Carolina re-districting map to stand. Led by Justice Sam Alito, they argue that the redistricting map gives Republicans an advantage, but is NOT racially motivated! Have they seen the South Carolina Republican Convention? When six legal scholars refuse to acknowledge the direct connection between “partisan” and “racism,” and how one fuels the other; they are engaging in verbal parsing to favor Donald Trump, upend Constitutional protections, and their own precious “originalist intent.” As if Republican ideology and policy since Ronald Reagan has nothing to do with racism. “Justice Samuel Alito suggested in his majority opinion, the legislature was merely seeking to make the seat safer for Republicans — a goal that does not violate the Constitution.” The decision is of a piece with Justice Alito’s “ethics” problem, for the brazenly partisan and white nationalist flags he flew at his homes on the Jersey Shore and Northern Virginia.
Previously, I argued for the impeachment of Justice Clarence Thomas based on his own ethical reckless and brazenly partisan behavior. Justice Alito wears his political sentiments on the flagpoles of his two homes. Trump-appointed Justices Brett Kavanagh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch all lied during their confirmation hearings, about their devotion to preserving Roe v. Wade. So five of the six-person majority in this decision have demonstrated serious ethical lapses, and expressed contempt for Congress. Chief Justice Roberts, appointed by George W. Bush, has run interference for all of them. Senator Mitch McConnell broke Senate rules, and used legislative sleight-of-hand to stack ALL the US courts with Republican appointees, while sabotaging appointees of President Barack Obama.
Alito and Thomas should be legally compelled to recuse themselves from any cases involving Trump or the January 6 defendants. Reps. Adam Schiff and Mike Sherrill have already demanded that Alito recuse himself. Rep. Steve Cohen introduced a motion to censure Alito for what he called, “a knowing and shameless demonstration of his political bias.” Cohen added, “What’s more, he continues to participate in litigation directly related to the 2020 election and the Insurrection, in direct violation of the federal recusal statute and the Supreme Court’s own ethics rules.” The censure motion would be raised if Alito refuses to recuse himself, as demanded by Congressional Democrats.
The same pressure must be applied to Justice Thomas, who has been just as arrogant in expressing his similar partisan preferences. Rep. Jamie Raskin called for a Federal Ethics Panel for the Courts, which Republicans are fiercely resisting. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez demanded a Senate investigation into Alito saying, “Samuel Alito has identified himself with the same people who raided the Capitol on Jan. 6, and is now going to be presiding over court cases that have deep implications over the participants of that rally. And while this is the threat to our democracy, Democrats have a responsibility for defending our democracy. And in the Senate, we have gavels.”
The Young Turks Video: “You Won’t BELIEVE Justice Alito’s Latest Far-Right Flag ”
Alito’s behavior almost makes Thomas appear naïve and guileless. Both have the same “conflict” problem, having accepted lavish gifts and vacations from corporate titans with cases before the court. Now comes Mrs. Alito to argue that the inverted flag was a “distress signal,” because one of her neighbors had a yard sign that personally insulted her. No, that is for ships at sea in distress, or kidnapping victims. As The Guardian points out, “But these days it (inverted flag) is more often associated with activists making an extremist sign of protest, and at the time of the January 6 insurrection it had been adopted by some on the far right amid efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.” She’ll say anything to deflect, divert, distract and obfuscate. That’s the Republican strategy when they’ve been called out and exposed for support to overthrow the US Government, and install Trump as President for Life. Just as Mrs. Thomas did.
The inverted flag was Alito’s first red flag. The “Appeal to Heaven” flag raised at his beach house is now the second. This illustrates an escalating trend of empowerment-entitlement, when coupled with Justice Thomas’ brazen vertical integration with Harlan Crow. Republicans feel a misplaced sense of self-righteous justification, to dispense with ethical and legal boundaries that don’t help their agenda. It illustrates how elected and appointed Republican office holders and judges feel beholden to, and empowered by Trump, to dispense with the legal boundaries, as it suits their agenda.
Justice Alito holds enormous power to decide the fate of Trump and Democracy in the US. The expressions on his home flagpoles illustrate a clear “partisan” devotion to Trump over the Constitution. If he refuses to recuse himself, he should face impeachment. Same for Thomas. Not only can SCOTUS justices be impeached, but Alito and Thomas have made compelling cases that their abuses of standing and arrogance demands the process. Their ruling to allow a gerrymandered and racially motivated re-districting map to stand in South Carolina, illustrates the depth of the Republican “deep fix.” Their loyalties are no longer to the US Government and Constitution, but to Donald Trump and by extension, Vladimir Putin, Victor Orban and his other autocratic role models. Over 100 Republican Members of Congress voted to NOT certify the 2020 Election, out of fealty to Trump. Why shouldn’t they all be expelled according to House and Senate Rules, and the Constitution?
The Christian Nationalist movement fuels this dynamic, and piles on self-righteousness. Millions of Evangelicals have “anointed” Trump as their modern day King Cyrus, despite his deeply UN-Christian lifestyle. Why? Because he promised them to end legal access to abortion in the US, which is all they care about as a fast-track element toward Christian theocracy in the US. They want to believe he actually cares about that, though he paid at least one woman to have one. Six of the nine SCOTUS justices are devout, ideological Catholics, which comprise 20% of the US population. McConnell’s fear and devotion to Trump has given this minority outsized influence on our judicial system, with Alito and Thomas abusing their legal standing to make the US a Christian Theocracy, and Trump President-for-Life. Alito and Thomas must recuse or face impeachment; they drew the lines and raised the battle flags.
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