Justice Clarence Thomas has secretly accepted luxury trips from a major Republican donors

H.R.8424 - Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2020

Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2020

This bill establishes staggered, 18-year terms for Supreme Court Justices and limits the Senate's advice and consent authority in relation to the appointment of Justices.

Specifically, the bill requires the President to appoint a Supreme Court Justice every two years. If the appointment of a Justice would result in more than nine Justices on the Court, then the longest serving Justice, excluding Justices appointed before the enactment of the bill, is deemed retired from regular service and designated as a Senior Justice. Further, any Justice who has served a total of 18 years is deemed retired from regular service and may continue to serve as a Senior Justice. Senior Justices may continue to perform judicial duties assigned to them by the Chief Justice. However, a Justice who retires from regular service due to a disability may not serve as a Senior Justice.

In the event of a vacancy on the Court, the Chief Justice must assign the Justice most recently designated as a Senior Justice to serve on the Court until the appointment of a new Justice.

Additionally, the Senate's advice and consent authority is waived if the Senate does not act within 120 days of a Justice's nomination.

 

Roberts should resign, for real.

He is absolutely failing - repeatedly- to control his court that he claims doesn't need any policing - it's embarrassing.

The keystone kops investigation/*cover up of Alito leaking Dobbs and Hobby Lobby, Clarence & Ginni 6 Thomas various scandals, repeatedly getting rolled by trump and sociopath judges - he's a disaster for the institution even aside from the political and social damage of the opinions that come out.

 

I understand that but that is the process. Other than that at this point it's just an issue of not reporting gifts. I dont think that it's a travesty if he stays

 

I understand frustration with McConnell but eventually Presidents choose justices. It's always gonna be a political process. Abortion was always a conservative target. That may seem unseemly but I wouldn’t say that abortion is an absolute right

Citizen's United is one case where I agree the conservative court really helped the conservative cause but again most cases are subject to political philosophy. That's the the power ww give the court, they are there for their understanding of the consti

 

nm

 

wish that you can be specific, cos it is easy to make evidence-free claim.

 

Yes any major change to the court, adding justices, term limits or etc. is going to be very difficult to get through the Senate. Not doing anything just guarantees the same
Problems persist and and get even worse. The only threat that there is from the Legislative and Executive branches is impeachment or new regulation. Impeachment has a much higher threshold the legislation to change the makeup of the court so is a stronger tool to try to compel changes.

 

How often does a judge need to be impeached? Everyone needs to relax

 

Apparently more often than it is now given how much potential corruption we are finding and the lack of transparency or judicial accountability.

 

This situation goes to a problem with government in general. We are at a dangerous lack of trust in our governmental institutions at all levels. This is what feeds wannabe authoritarian populists. The loss of faith in our institutions threatens the fine balance that is our democratic-republic.

Just excusing and down playing such problems as Thomas getting “gifts” and Presidents and other elected officials obfuscating their taxes erodes trust even further.

 

I know, but that's all in the past. There is now real political and societal pressure on the Court. Thomas isn't going to voluntarily resign without Roberts telling him to get lost. It's time for Roberts to step up or resign.

 

12 year terms should definitely be considered when trying to reform this abomination of an institution.We should not have the fate of the nation dependent on the luck of who dies when.

Also the whole Court became horribly against democracy when Marbury vs Madison,, a power grab not clearly in the Constitution, set the precedent that a simple majority on the SCt can overcome the desires of the Senate, the House and the President, all of whom have been democratically elected. One reform to this could allow this to happen if a unanimous or supermajority of the SCt decided. Middle school or highschool level civics teaches us that the SCt overturning demcratically elected laws is such a beautiful
thing to protect minorities but with a few very celebrated exceptions the minority it has protected is the small group of the rich. The recent much celebrated decision wrt to gay marriage was already happening pretty much in a soon to be majority of the states.

 

Uncle Thomas now caught being connected with dummy companies

he is corrupt and compromised

if he had any shame whatsoever, he would resign by end of business tomorrow…if not, there needs to be a criminal investigation

 

You know, I'm a big critic of his, and the house thing, the vacations, etc, all deserve scrutiny.

This dummy company, as the WaPo reporting shows, is a misnomer and it doesn't rise to the level of his other offenses (and those in the 2000's, when they weren't reporting his wife's pay from the Heritage Foundation).

In this case, her old family business slightly changed its name and they did not update it. Maybe for some nefarious reason... but sometimes carelessness and not taking a task seriously satisfy Occam's razor.

 

I don’t know why you deleted your original post but I do agree with you for the most part.

 

Thx. I haven't changed my mind on that specific topic at all, but just over-sharing basically.

 

could certainly be a simple error, but I can’t give him the benefit of the doubt

at this point, I can’t tell if he’s a Supreme Court justice, or the main character on Ozarks

 

Not laughing is easy. Trust me, I’m not. Knowing that this corrupt creature has a grip on a seat of the nation’s highest court, for life, removes any desire I might have to chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Unless someone can point out a reasonable avenue to take to remove the man, searching for the humor in this will remain a fruitless one for one retired Blade Runner.