onfocus

Congress has authority to limit the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 that says that the appellate jurisdiction of the court shall be subject to “such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.”

Rep. Sean Casten lists some ways congress could rein in this out-of-control Supreme Court.

...to paraphrase former justice Potter Stewart, you know the corruption when you see it. And we see the out-of-control corruption in the increasing willingness and brazenness with which the Court reaches down into judicial process to find notional bases upon which to make policy for the country which it simply desires to make, frequently ignoring the appellate process, the fact-finding of trials, basic issues of standing. The corruption runs so deep there is simply little effort any more to hide it.

This is a good summary of the corruption.

There are many theories swirling around for why they have increasingly chosen to abandon their basic duty to legal transparency. And the likeliest one is also the simplest: They’re cowards.

I believe the Roberts Court will be known as the court that brought down the institution in this form. Only significant restructuring will restore faith in this thoroughly captured enabler of authoritarianism.

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court kneecapped the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the landmark civil rights law that restricted racial gerrymandering and racial discrimination in voting for sixty years.

This isn’t justice based on careful deliberation. This is corruption in the service of white supremacy.

“I think this is a creative and ambitious bill,” he said. “It tries to get around Citizens United by arguing that corporations only have the powers the state chooses to grant them, and that Hawaiʻi can decline to grant the power to spend money on elections. That’s a genuinely innovative idea.”

Nice to see a state even contemplate asserting its power to regulate. Fingers crossed.

The efforts show the blurring of the lines between public service and private profit-seeking during Mr. Trump’s second term. Only a few weeks ago, in his role as Mr. Trump’s “peace envoy,” Mr. Kushner met in Geneva with Iran’s foreign minister. The U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign in Iran began shortly after those meetings concluded without a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

Seems like "blurring the lines" is a bit of an understatement. Also, what is Kushner’s role in the administration? Does he have security clearance? None of this should be legal.

When asked by NYT reporters if there were limits to his power, Trump replied, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

The corrupt supreme court decision to grant the President immunity from criminal prosecution gave us this. The framers designed three equal branches of government so power can’t live with one person. The design didn’t work.

John Roberts and his Republican colleagues have granted a kid with ties to criminal hackers, Ed “Big Balls” Coristine, live access to every American’s Social Security data.

Supreme Court majority implicated in US government hacking incident.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced the introduction of new legislation to restore balance among the three branches of government, increase transparency to improve public trust in America’s courts, and modernize the courts to ensure greater access to justice for more Americans.

Thanks, Senator Wyden! There are good politicians out there working for their constituents. Wyden is consistently fighting the good fight.

Congress can determine the size of the Supreme Court; it has already added and removed seats on the Court seven times throughout its history. At a time when the American people’s confidence in the nation’s highest court has fallen to a record low and Congressional Republicans have already employed their far-right judicial playbook by disregarding norms and precedent in the confirmations process, Congress must take action by once again expanding the Court.

It's way past time for this to happen. We need a Democratic congress now.

“The evidence assembled thus far plainly suggests that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics and false-statement laws and raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have,” Whitehouse and Wyden wrote.

The US has to remove this corrupt court.

Some journalists are so caught up in the debate furor that one of the most dangerous and consequential Supreme Court terms in memory was pushed off the front pages. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on immunity found that president’s might actually be kings, that’s a game changer that deserves more attention than it got. Instead, news outlets have dedicated most of their resources to covering every blip on the Biden debate follow up instead.

Wake up, journalists! Our democracy depends on an informed electorate and this horse race BS is a sideshow compared with the real story of a massive judicial power grab by a corrupt court.