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

No, it does not make it ok. You know well enough partisans shouldn't pick and choose when to hold standards. But this is exactly what partisans do.

 

I think MAGA voters who fear and hate "the Deep State" will be overjoyed to see SCOTUS strike this blow.

Might be a good time for liberals incensed by the financial entanglements of justices and Trump to join forces with conservatives mad about the financial entanglements of Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden to put a more effective ring-fence around these positions of power. We don't even need to go after anyone's champion or nemesis, just change the rules to make sure the next guy is a thousand miles away from even an appearance of impropriety. If rules around how you can conduct financial affairs ends up driving some talent away, that's alright -- public service is a special calling and not everyone is really ready to make the sacrifices it calls for, but there will be some that are.

 

Why is Jackson recusing herself on such an important case?

 

Philip Hamburger has argued that administrative law is not law but rather represents the evasion of law.



there is a difference between "regulation" per se and "the administrative state." Big difference.

 

I don't want unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats running the country. Federal laws should be passed by Congress, signed into law by the President, and reviewed by the Supreme Court to make certain they fall within the specifically enumerated powers of the Federal government and do not run afoul of any of the rights of the people. The National Labor Relations Board or the National Institutes for Health or the Department of the Interior are not supposed to decide what the law is. Talk about no accountability. If I don't like what Target is doing, I can shop somewhere else. What am I supposed to do if I don't like what the Department of Housing and Urban Development is doing?

 

Frankly, they all have blood on their hands for the women who die because of these types of pregnancies.

 

I hate to break it to you, but unaccountable unelected people run this country. If you think otherwise, I can only suggest you looking into how our gov't works.

I worked for a startup that was essentially built on lobbyists bribing gov't officials. Donate enough money to their campaign, and they voted for the laws we need to make our company successful. Guaranteed my retirement, so happy about that. But yeah, we bribed them plain and simple.

What's really ironic is that Thomas is an unaccountable unelected bureaucrat that runs this country by just overturning any decision that meets his fancy. There is no coherent standard by which he rules other than - if it supports my side, I'll find a way to justify it.

 

This isn't news to me. That is why I am a libertarian. Why would anyone want our shitty government to be powerful?

See above.

Sadly, he is the most ideologically consistent.

 

It's not about our gov't being powerful or not - it is very powerful. Gov't tells if you have to have a baby, it tells you if you can be transgender, it can come into your home and shoot you, it can tell you what medicines you can't take because it offends someone religion. It can punish companies for disagreeing with someone, it can do a lot. Gov't is powerful, but the question is who does gov't serve? And the answer is not you. It serves the whims of the powerful.

If you mean partisan - that's not a compliment.

 

Yes. I think it should become less powerful, hence libertarian. You want the power wielded by someone you agree with. I want the power taken away.

I don't mean partisan, I mean ideologically consistent (hence using the latter instead of the former).

 

You want power taken away from the rich? How?


And how do you define Thomas as an ideologue when he defines himself as a partisan?

 

By reducing the size and scope of the federal government.

Because of all the justices, his record and decisions bear the most fidelity to the text of the Constitution.

 

I understand that by Libertarians will welcome such a ruling rolling back regulatory power. I don’t think that will produce a better country especially in the complex and interconnected world we have. It also will fall the hardest the on the MAGA rural and working class base. The Ag department and interior departments do a lot for rural areas on a lot of things that most voters aren’t aware of. Without the ability to regulate things like water access, soil conservation and seed prices it will hit small farmers and rural communities very hard.

 

Given a complicated and interconnected economy what is important isn’t necessarily more or less regulation but consistent regulation. If more of this falls upon political and ideological decision makers the less certainty there will be. That’s not going to be good for market stability.