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Keith Wheelock's avatar

I am old enough to remember that Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff Sherman Adams, because of accepting a vicuña coat and an oriental rug. was obliged to resign from the White House. I also recall the Abe Fortas fracas, where a Supreme Court justice, because of financial arrangements that provided him $20,000-40,000 annually,was obliged to resign.

I also remember when Anita Hill was thrown under the bus in a full court press to get a mediocre Black lawyer named to replace Thurmond Marshall on the Supreme Court.

This has resulted in what I call ‘creep, creep, creep, crap.’ Justice Thomas, with his sidekick Ginni, reflects the demise of what I remember as respect for the Supreme Court. Silent Clarence, for his initial years, has been catapulted into being a political spokesman for the current Court. Thanks in good part to the Federalist Society, another justice has characterized our current Supreme Court as the ‘Stench Court.’

McConnell invented a policy that denied a hearing for Garland, President Obama’s nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg. [This ‘policy’ was reversed to squeeze Bartlett on to the Court after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.]

The Kavanaugh Senate ‘hearing,’ was a travesty. Under White House pressure, the FBI initiated a phony investigation in a few days that, despite Senator Susan Collins’ approval, failed the smell test.

Now we have ‘originalism,’ [a false premise according to numerous constitutional lawyers] and long-serving Justice Thomas as the mantra of the current Stench Court.

Any reasonable observer would castigate Justice Thomas for his enrichment at the hands of a right-wing billionaire. Meanwhile, Chief Justice Roberts (who not so long ago seemed concerned about the image of the ‘Roberts Court,’) is now simply an Indian in the right-wing SC tribe.

I do not envisage a significant improvement in this Stench Court in the foreseeable future. Now that a former president openly opposes ‘justice, I hope for, but do not expect, a reversion to the ethics that I remember during my youthful years.

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Robert Litan's avatar

As good as it gets Jim, one of the very you've ever written

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