Do you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting in the wind wanting to start again…
Well, we do after another devastating Supreme Court term where the 6-3 super-conservative majority expanded its scope of power, hurt LBGTQ+ rights, eviscerated affirmative action, and rejected President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. The continued threat to any number of issues central to living lives of dignity and freedom is very real.
To recap, SCOTUS justices have lifetime appointments with little oversight or accountability. In the past, we’ve expected SCOTUS justices to be impartial and operate outside of politics to truly interpret the law and protect our rights. But in this moment, a lack of oversight and accountability is deeply troubling as the Court continues to obliterate precedent and overturn long-held constitutional rights. More and more ethics concerns are also being reported about the Court.
For example, Justices Thomas and Alito deliberately did not disclose valuable gifts by entities with interests before the Court. The Associated Press recently reported that public colleges and universities leverage visits by justices as opportunities to fundraise — creating situations where justices are side by side with influential donors, including people who may have stakes in cases at the Supreme Court. Another article revealed that that multiple lawyers with business before the Supreme Court (including one opposing affirmative action) paid money to an aide of Justice Thomas in connection with a 2019 Christmas party. More sketchiness!
And many of the justice’s families and partners raise concerns about impartiality. Justice Thomas’s wife Ginny has an arch-conservative consulting practice whose clients have stakes in Supreme Court cases around abortion and other issues (to say nothing of her interference around the 2020 election). And the spouses of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett also have potential conflicts that are impossible to discern given the lax disclosure structures in place.
The ethics violations extend beyond accepting gifts or potential conflicts; there are legitimate allegations that Justice Alito leaked a decision about birth control to conservative activists in advance. And we still don’t know who leaked the Dobbs draft decision (although we’re looking at you again, Justice Alito).
Given these ethics questions and conflicts, the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Chief Justice Roberts to come and testify, and he declined. Which, let’s be real, is not a good look for SCOTUS – any other government employee would be in deep trouble for such behavior.
Confidence in the Supreme Court is the lowest it has been in 50 years, and honestly, is anyone surprised?
This latest term of the Supreme Court was devastating, and makes us feel like a wrinkled old plastic bag that wishes it could float away.
Harmful decisions about student debt, discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities, and affirmative action on the heels of allowing abortion bans to go into place across the country show how out of step conservative justices are with the needs of our country.
That only some people get to live their most free and authentic lives at the expense of others in the name of “religious liberty” and “equal protection” even as serious ethical questions go unanswered shows the urgent need for meaningful reform at the highest level of the federal judiciary.
We’re here to break down the issues for you.
- Read our recap of the latest term: SCOTUS 2022-23: The Not Terrible and the Very Bad
- Learn more about the next steps: What Can We Do About the Supreme Court’s Damaging Decisions?
It’s a lot of information, but knowledge is power! As you learn more about where we are and what we can do about it, we hope you’ll feel less like a plastic bag and more like the firework you are.
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Jenny Blasdell Chief of Staff |