Three strikes against the Supreme Court
Let’s talk about the three musketeers. And I do not refer to the musketeers in literature nor the chocolate bar (although it’s good.) I am referring to the three musketeers of the extreme court. We now have — shockingly — THREE Justices with scandals that could profoundly hinder them from doing their jobs.
There is, of course, Musketeer number one. That would be Clarence Thomas, whose wife may or may not be an insurrectionist. It is preposterous that STILL — after all this time — he has refused to recuse himself on matters related to cases that his wife may have dirtied up.
Musketeer two is Samuel Alito, who stands accused — not of witchcraft but of leaking an important legal opinion several years ago. He is ALSO suspected of leaking his own Dobbs decision though we do not KNOW that.
But past behavior is usually a predictor of the future. And Alito, with his murky past and crazed and archaic beliefs, has been all over the news lately. And then we come to Musketeer three. This is John Roberts.
The “Chief Justice” is in the middle of an ethics scandal. This is because of his wife. Jane Roberts does legal recruiting work, which entails working with people who have had cases before the highest court in the land.
There was a recent letter sent to congress by a former colleague of Jane Roberts. She is seeking an inquiry and claiming that John Roberts has “potential ethics issues” because of his wife’s work. This colleague has provided reports to both congress and the justice department.
Jane Roberts has reportedly been paid millions and millions of dollars to place attorneys at organizations, some of which have cases before the supreme court. This, if valid, certainly would present ethical problems. This marks the third Justice to be under a cloud of suspicion. Will there be a fourth musketeer?
In reality, all of this could be fixed tomorrow. If the Chief Justice would create some ethical guidelines for the court to follow, it would be beneficial. Yet, he shows little signs of doing anything like that. The fall of the supreme court is one of the saddest things to happen in recent years. Perhaps we will be able to fix it. We must because the rule of law depends on it.
