Wouldn't it be a hoot to be in the room as the Righteous Six read about this legislation?!
Senator Wyden has a law degree but didn't pursue that career. He sure has put it to good use in the Senate. He advocated for seniors and went after Enron. The man is a natural born helper and protector. Huge advocate for governmental openness.
Cleaning up the corruption of this court and preventing us from ever being abused like this again needs to be a part of the turning. Practical solutions for the Supreme Courts of the 21st Century. It IS after all the Information Age.
We are not going back. Wyden’s Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act will drag our Republican Robert's Court kicking and screaming into the future, and I want to watch.
As I understand it, von is a German designation for the old Prussian nobility. Using it with Trump's name implies somethinng he defilitely is not. Noble.
Ja ja! You are basically right. Of course. In that precise trump case I use it to just underline the nazi side of that disgusting devil. Lock him up. He will bring fascism and a totally unhinged revenge spirit in the country, which will drip elsewhere. Tks! Vote blue!
Great piece this morning ☕ Thom, and from one Oregonian to another, we're lucky to have such "Terrific" representation, doing the hard work for Us and the American people. See you on FSTV today 👍 Will reStack ASAP 💯🇺🇸💙🌊🌊🌊!
A great bill. It would be a big step towards what people expected our Supreme Court to be if they were reasonable honorable people selected as judges and reasonable honorable people doing the selection. The genius of the the right-wing billionaires, and the blindness of the Dems of not making it the biggest issue when Hillary ran, was to remove the country's biggest guardrail protecting democracy and turn it into an instrument of destruction. -- the Supreme Court.
It seems that one of the things that upsets these justices the most is that many Americans enjoy having sex in many different ways. I find that strange because we know that Justice Thomas was a big fan of porn. It’s just another example of the arrogance and hypocrisy that goes with the corruption of this court.
The blindness of the Democrats is unacceptable. There many events and issues today that should be part of the anti-DT campaign. One minor item is the admission by Musk that he was drunk as he was on stage with Trump a few days ago.
This is good news and while not everything will likely get through even if there was a Democratic super majority in the next Congress (remember, FDR could not increase the Court's size) it may be a roadmap for change. I saw a CNN article yesterday claiming that Roberts was surprised by the public reaction to the ruling giving presidents almost unlimited powers in office, and is becoming very concerned about his legacy and how he will be seen by history. And he well should be.
This can't be put into legislation, but if more SCOTUS justices came from the "real world" of gritty law schools rather than an ingrown Harvard-Yale culture, and had worked with poor clients off the street as well as met people caught in low level criminal problems they might be more realistic about how citizens actually live with their decisions. My older son had 12 years of criminal defense work before becoming a municipal court judge and that taught him what the people before his bench are actually going through. He's no pushover, but he knows how to be fair and realistic.
And along these lines it certainly is a positive that Harris was prosecutor. Her experience involved people in trouble in real life. Contrast that with how many Cabinet members and other top people in politics were attorneys or officers of big corporations who made plans for how things “will be” once people (and foreign governments) do as they are told. Of course the results were rarely what they expected.
Enter my critique of Biden. SCOTUS has given him carte blanche immunity to do anything within the scope of official duties, and that includes reforming the court. The duties of the executive are to execute laws that congress passes, there is so much that Biden could do, if only he or his advisors and staff had the guts.
Exactly, Wyden's plan is aspirational and that is all, unless progressives (notice I said progressives) capture congress (house and senate)., as well as the executive.
Sen. Wyden's bill sounds like a good, comprehensive reform of the Federal court system. I like that it puts a clock on the SCOTUS appointment process to make the Senate move. A little legislative Colace is needed in other senatorial processes as well, the major blockage being Mitch McConnell.
Further even than Wyden’s proposed legislation, your list of the SC’s “accomplishments” is breathtaking motivation for me in debates and conversations to come. I will pass it on.
Sen. Wyden’s solution is the most sensible response I’ve seen to the corruption now infesting the majority on the court. The American people deserve a court that operates under rules and ethics codes that are absent currently. Expansion to 15 circuits and 15 justices will allow cases to move more quickly and smoothly through the process of justice.
This is quite wonderful indeed..... I had my own amateur version I have posted here and there - the "2025 Judiciary Reconciliation Act" in two sentences: "1. The number of United States Supreme Court Justices shall be equal to the number of United States District Courts of Appeal." "2. The number of United States District Courts of Appeal shall be an odd number." It would have allowed President Harris to add four SCOTUS justices to the Court to balance the criminal and immoral stealing of the Court in the first place. I would do that right up front, first term - there will be no progressive or even moderate legislation passed on voting rights or gun control with the current Court in session.....
In the current political climate, I suspect Sen. Wyden's 12-year plan will allow too much time for the current Court to find ways to sabotage attempts to reform it..... Add at least the four justices immediately to balance the Court with the current number of US District Courts of Appeal and then expand the courts and SCOTUS further in the future.....
Wow! Checks and balances - whoda thunk? Ron Wyden’s proposal is brilliant. Now, if, say, he and Sheldon Whitehouse can encourage Dick Durbin to find a more satisfying (to him) pass time, perhaps this effort to salvage democracy will bear fruit.
I agree with Senator Wyden's plan and hope it passes in its original form and not whittled down to a form that will have unintended consequences like many other bills, such as the Affordable Care Act. Harris needs the Senate and the House.
I have read most of Thom's books, including those he mentioned, and learned much from them. But I want to caution that using the phrase " right-wing Catholic death cult" may work against what I think the purpose of the article is: to educate and persuade.
The GOP uses the "shock a person from the higher reasoning part of the brain to the lower survival part of the brain. Thom explains this in one of his books, which I think was "Cracking the Code." I think the phrase "Catholic death cult" tends to cause a person to lose a train of critical thinking, at least momentarily, the same as the GOP's use of "dead babies" and other variations on the theme.
I should get my copy of Thom's new book, The Hidden History of the American Dream, in the mail today and another copy at the book signing in Darien, Illinois, this evening. I hope Thom will have time to sign them.
Ms. Maloney, the entirety of the Christian religion is a death cult. Jesus suffering and dying on the cross upon which the Romans hanged him is the basis of, and over-riding symbol of the religion. About on third of Humankind belongs to this death cult.
I lived for a half century on the border between Michigan and Ontario where many of my students and friends, indeed, the best friend in my life, were Chippewa Indians. I was endlessly pleased and entertained to discover that the Chippewas had a powerful, well developed sense of irony and sarcasm running through their culture. I was informed of an ancient, now largely forgotten tale of how the local indigenous people nailed some Jesuit priests to wooden crosses and threw them into the river which the priests had named the Saint Maries. What a wonderful opportunity they gave those priests. I wonder why this is not celebrated in the JESUIT RELATIONS.
The link is a lot of Should's and one May,and no shall not's. Should's are in essence, worthless, and a code minus enforcement is as I said an assemblage of words.
Can issue private censure, Public censure, Requesting the judge resign, Recommending impeachment to the House of Representatives, and Temporarily prohibiting the judge from receiving new cases. Refer willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act (EIGA) to the AG for prosecution.
The confidentiality of the complaint process is intended to protect the fairness and thoroughness of the process. Public orders are usually only made after final action on the complaint, and the judge's name is usually only disclosed in specific circumstances.
Judicial Conference Indicates Ethics Review of Justice Thomas
Jan 17, 2024 — The last time the Judicial Conference received letters regarding Justice Thomas' apparent willful violations of EIGA
My experience is that most federal judges except SCOTUS are paranoid because of the fishbowl effect. Everything is monitored, not just financial matters. E.G. have to account for every communication.
That's what some people, who obviously have never actually practiced ethics law say. So far, nobody has forced the issue. Requires fact finding.
Roberts has sent some charges about Thomas to the Judicial Conference. They are hell on wheels for their own people. Most of the time judges resign rather than face an investigation. Within the realm of possibilities is a referral to DOJ to prosecute potential crimes like bribery and perjury.
Wow Mr. Solomon thank you for sharing that code of conduct [canons, as the justices call it] with us. It is clear that more than one justice has violated the code. Justice Clarence Thomas is not the only one. I do not understand how this code can be enforced.....? "Canon" is a slippery term, borrowed from literature and religion. Over the course of my academic career I have listened in seminars as my colleagues used and misused the term, often.
Many of the early European immigrants to North America left that continent to escape the tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church. There were other religious tyrannies to be escaped, but the Founding Fathers were thinking of the Catholic Church when designing separation of church and state.
Probably from the first, the RCC has tried to establish religious control in the United States. Since the 1950s, the efforts have been increasingly successful. Ross Douthat has been a sworn fellow-traveler in the work of imposing the Church's values on everyone else. I'm encouraged by Thom Hartmann's publicity of the seditious maneuvers of the corporate media and people like Douthat. We are fortunate to have Senator Wyden working for all of us.
Wouldn't it be a hoot to be in the room as the Righteous Six read about this legislation?!
Senator Wyden has a law degree but didn't pursue that career. He sure has put it to good use in the Senate. He advocated for seniors and went after Enron. The man is a natural born helper and protector. Huge advocate for governmental openness.
Cleaning up the corruption of this court and preventing us from ever being abused like this again needs to be a part of the turning. Practical solutions for the Supreme Courts of the 21st Century. It IS after all the Information Age.
We are not going back. Wyden’s Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act will drag our Republican Robert's Court kicking and screaming into the future, and I want to watch.
Yeah, a Democrat with a spine! I hope it is contagious!
Nobody is above the law ! Be it von trump or scotus, both corrupted and corrupting too
As I understand it, von is a German designation for the old Prussian nobility. Using it with Trump's name implies somethinng he defilitely is not. Noble.
Ja ja! You are basically right. Of course. In that precise trump case I use it to just underline the nazi side of that disgusting devil. Lock him up. He will bring fascism and a totally unhinged revenge spirit in the country, which will drip elsewhere. Tks! Vote blue!
Great piece this morning ☕ Thom, and from one Oregonian to another, we're lucky to have such "Terrific" representation, doing the hard work for Us and the American people. See you on FSTV today 👍 Will reStack ASAP 💯🇺🇸💙🌊🌊🌊!
A great bill. It would be a big step towards what people expected our Supreme Court to be if they were reasonable honorable people selected as judges and reasonable honorable people doing the selection. The genius of the the right-wing billionaires, and the blindness of the Dems of not making it the biggest issue when Hillary ran, was to remove the country's biggest guardrail protecting democracy and turn it into an instrument of destruction. -- the Supreme Court.
High time to rein in those corrupted judges ironically called "justices". Shameful supreme court
It seems that one of the things that upsets these justices the most is that many Americans enjoy having sex in many different ways. I find that strange because we know that Justice Thomas was a big fan of porn. It’s just another example of the arrogance and hypocrisy that goes with the corruption of this court.
The blindness of the Democrats is unacceptable. There many events and issues today that should be part of the anti-DT campaign. One minor item is the admission by Musk that he was drunk as he was on stage with Trump a few days ago.
This is good news and while not everything will likely get through even if there was a Democratic super majority in the next Congress (remember, FDR could not increase the Court's size) it may be a roadmap for change. I saw a CNN article yesterday claiming that Roberts was surprised by the public reaction to the ruling giving presidents almost unlimited powers in office, and is becoming very concerned about his legacy and how he will be seen by history. And he well should be.
This can't be put into legislation, but if more SCOTUS justices came from the "real world" of gritty law schools rather than an ingrown Harvard-Yale culture, and had worked with poor clients off the street as well as met people caught in low level criminal problems they might be more realistic about how citizens actually live with their decisions. My older son had 12 years of criminal defense work before becoming a municipal court judge and that taught him what the people before his bench are actually going through. He's no pushover, but he knows how to be fair and realistic.
And along these lines it certainly is a positive that Harris was prosecutor. Her experience involved people in trouble in real life. Contrast that with how many Cabinet members and other top people in politics were attorneys or officers of big corporations who made plans for how things “will be” once people (and foreign governments) do as they are told. Of course the results were rarely what they expected.
Enter my critique of Biden. SCOTUS has given him carte blanche immunity to do anything within the scope of official duties, and that includes reforming the court. The duties of the executive are to execute laws that congress passes, there is so much that Biden could do, if only he or his advisors and staff had the guts.
All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.
The predicate to anything logical is to win.
Calling to get volunteers. Canvassers. Poll watchers. https://www.mobilize.us/
Exactly, Wyden's plan is aspirational and that is all, unless progressives (notice I said progressives) capture congress (house and senate)., as well as the executive.
Sen. Wyden's bill sounds like a good, comprehensive reform of the Federal court system. I like that it puts a clock on the SCOTUS appointment process to make the Senate move. A little legislative Colace is needed in other senatorial processes as well, the major blockage being Mitch McConnell.
Further even than Wyden’s proposed legislation, your list of the SC’s “accomplishments” is breathtaking motivation for me in debates and conversations to come. I will pass it on.
Sen. Wyden’s solution is the most sensible response I’ve seen to the corruption now infesting the majority on the court. The American people deserve a court that operates under rules and ethics codes that are absent currently. Expansion to 15 circuits and 15 justices will allow cases to move more quickly and smoothly through the process of justice.
This is quite wonderful indeed..... I had my own amateur version I have posted here and there - the "2025 Judiciary Reconciliation Act" in two sentences: "1. The number of United States Supreme Court Justices shall be equal to the number of United States District Courts of Appeal." "2. The number of United States District Courts of Appeal shall be an odd number." It would have allowed President Harris to add four SCOTUS justices to the Court to balance the criminal and immoral stealing of the Court in the first place. I would do that right up front, first term - there will be no progressive or even moderate legislation passed on voting rights or gun control with the current Court in session.....
In the current political climate, I suspect Sen. Wyden's 12-year plan will allow too much time for the current Court to find ways to sabotage attempts to reform it..... Add at least the four justices immediately to balance the Court with the current number of US District Courts of Appeal and then expand the courts and SCOTUS further in the future.....
Best news I've read in a while. Many thanks
Wow! Checks and balances - whoda thunk? Ron Wyden’s proposal is brilliant. Now, if, say, he and Sheldon Whitehouse can encourage Dick Durbin to find a more satisfying (to him) pass time, perhaps this effort to salvage democracy will bear fruit.
I agree with Senator Wyden's plan and hope it passes in its original form and not whittled down to a form that will have unintended consequences like many other bills, such as the Affordable Care Act. Harris needs the Senate and the House.
I have read most of Thom's books, including those he mentioned, and learned much from them. But I want to caution that using the phrase " right-wing Catholic death cult" may work against what I think the purpose of the article is: to educate and persuade.
The GOP uses the "shock a person from the higher reasoning part of the brain to the lower survival part of the brain. Thom explains this in one of his books, which I think was "Cracking the Code." I think the phrase "Catholic death cult" tends to cause a person to lose a train of critical thinking, at least momentarily, the same as the GOP's use of "dead babies" and other variations on the theme.
I should get my copy of Thom's new book, The Hidden History of the American Dream, in the mail today and another copy at the book signing in Darien, Illinois, this evening. I hope Thom will have time to sign them.
Ms. Maloney, the entirety of the Christian religion is a death cult. Jesus suffering and dying on the cross upon which the Romans hanged him is the basis of, and over-riding symbol of the religion. About on third of Humankind belongs to this death cult.
I lived for a half century on the border between Michigan and Ontario where many of my students and friends, indeed, the best friend in my life, were Chippewa Indians. I was endlessly pleased and entertained to discover that the Chippewas had a powerful, well developed sense of irony and sarcasm running through their culture. I was informed of an ancient, now largely forgotten tale of how the local indigenous people nailed some Jesuit priests to wooden crosses and threw them into the river which the priests had named the Saint Maries. What a wonderful opportunity they gave those priests. I wonder why this is not celebrated in the JESUIT RELATIONS.
I'd settle for an Ethics Code.
They have an ethics code. Nobody, and that includes Garland and other parties before the court, has done anything to attempt to use it. https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf
There is no method for enforcing any code that may exist.
Officer trainees and members of the various military academies have an honor code, and it is enforced. Violators are expelled.
The military has a code of conduct and it too is enforced by court martial, or non judicial punishment.
I think what you mean is that for a code to be a code, it has to be enforced, otherwise it is nothing more than assembled words.
https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges
The link is a lot of Should's and one May,and no shall not's. Should's are in essence, worthless, and a code minus enforcement is as I said an assemblage of words.
Some judges have been removed, many more resigned in the face of an investigation. They are like the Gestapo. Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 established disciplinary action against judges who violate the Code. https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/judicial-administration/administrative-oversight-and-accountability
Can issue private censure, Public censure, Requesting the judge resign, Recommending impeachment to the House of Representatives, and Temporarily prohibiting the judge from receiving new cases. Refer willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act (EIGA) to the AG for prosecution.
The confidentiality of the complaint process is intended to protect the fairness and thoroughness of the process. Public orders are usually only made after final action on the complaint, and the judge's name is usually only disclosed in specific circumstances.
Judicial Conference Indicates Ethics Review of Justice Thomas
Jan 17, 2024 — The last time the Judicial Conference received letters regarding Justice Thomas' apparent willful violations of EIGA
My experience is that most federal judges except SCOTUS are paranoid because of the fishbowl effect. Everything is monitored, not just financial matters. E.G. have to account for every communication.
That's what some people, who obviously have never actually practiced ethics law say. So far, nobody has forced the issue. Requires fact finding.
Roberts has sent some charges about Thomas to the Judicial Conference. They are hell on wheels for their own people. Most of the time judges resign rather than face an investigation. Within the realm of possibilities is a referral to DOJ to prosecute potential crimes like bribery and perjury.
Wow Mr. Solomon thank you for sharing that code of conduct [canons, as the justices call it] with us. It is clear that more than one justice has violated the code. Justice Clarence Thomas is not the only one. I do not understand how this code can be enforced.....? "Canon" is a slippery term, borrowed from literature and religion. Over the course of my academic career I have listened in seminars as my colleagues used and misused the term, often.
Many of the early European immigrants to North America left that continent to escape the tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church. There were other religious tyrannies to be escaped, but the Founding Fathers were thinking of the Catholic Church when designing separation of church and state.
Probably from the first, the RCC has tried to establish religious control in the United States. Since the 1950s, the efforts have been increasingly successful. Ross Douthat has been a sworn fellow-traveler in the work of imposing the Church's values on everyone else. I'm encouraged by Thom Hartmann's publicity of the seditious maneuvers of the corporate media and people like Douthat. We are fortunate to have Senator Wyden working for all of us.