The Stench on the Bench

The last few years have been like being on a rollercoaster that’s careening on a 240-year-old track held together by duct tape and Krazy Glue.  We’ve told ourselves that the relentless political chaos would somehow be held in check by “guardrails” like the courts. But if we’ve learned anything, it’s that the courts – most especially the Supreme Court – are just as susceptible to corruption and conflicts of interest as any powerful body. We assumed the jurists in their somber black robes held themselves to higher standards, ethics, and conduct.

How utterly quaint.

For years, Justice Clarence Thomas has taken millions in gifts, luxury vacations, and more from rich donors. And let’s not forget the role his wife Ginni played in organizing the push to overturn the 2020 election. Is he recusing himself from Jan. 6-related cases? Nope.

Right after Justice Neil Gorsuch was named to the bench, a piece of family real estate that had been languishing on the market was suddenly snapped up by…someone. Justice Brett Kavanaugh has never answered why his enormous debts vanished. Justice Samuel Alito has also taken “gifts” and made headlines after displaying flags supporting the January 6 rioters.

And of course, the conservative justices stirred controversy earlier this year by ruling that a president (in this instance, Donald Trump) is essentially immune from prosecution for criminality related to “official acts.” This is a get-out-of-jail-free card, especially for his role inciting the violence on January 6^th.

Now it comes out that Chief Justice John Roberts, supposedly terribly concerned about the reputation and image of the court, has been working to insulate the former president from a whole host of wrongdoings. Recent reports show that he’s written and steered rulings to protect Trump, conveniently keeping liberal justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson out of the loop.

Justice Elena Kagan has been pushing for enforcement on a code of ethics for SCOTUS; unsurprisingly, Roberts is all like, “We can monitor ourselves, thank you very much.”
But it’s abundantly clear that they can’t. And won’t, not when all that sweet donor cash is just waiting to be taken.

A wholesale reform of SCOTUS is needed. Besides enforcing some basic ethics rules, term limits of 18 years is a good start. Expanding the court from nine justices to reflect the current number of circuit courts (13) as it was once done would return some balance.

Finally, during their confirmation hearings, several justices clearly perjured themselves when discussing “settled law,” particularly around Roe v Wade; their overturn of that particular settled law in 2022 was proof. That should be prosecutable.

Like many things in recent years, the weak spots in our systems of governance have been exposed. We may have thought SCOTUS was immune from corruption, but it’s clearly not. We still have some work to do to shore up our more perfect union.

Cindy Grogan is a writer, lover of history and "Star Trek" (TOS), and hardcore politics junkie. There was that one time she campaigned for Gerald Ford (yikes), but ever since, she's been devoted to Democratic and progressive policies.