A new reason to celebrate
August 6, 2024
Against all odds, the reactionary majority on the Supreme Court is descending further into the maelstrom of corruption and MAGA protectionism. The reforms proposed by President Biden are the bare minimum necessary to rehabilitate the Court. The reforms must be a priority under the Harris administration.
Clarence Thomas failed to disclose additional trips on Harlan Crow’s jet
On Monday, we learned that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose additional travel on Republican megadonor Harlan Crow’s private jet. Back in 2010, Crow shuttled Clarence and Ginni Thomas between Hawaii and New Zealand. Despite the fact that Justice Thomas has twice amended his financial disclosures, he failed to disclose the private flights in 2010. See The Guardian, Clarence Thomas failed to disclose more private jet travel, senator says.
This is ridiculous, insulting, and contemptuous. It may also be a crime. But unless and until John Roberts wakes from his stupor, Merrick Garland opens an investigation, or Congress opens an impeachment inquiry, Justice Thomas will continue to thumb his nose at the American people.
What will it take for John Roberts, the DOJ, and Congress to act? The American people deserve an answer. The only reasonable inference to be drawn is that the Supreme Court is a corrupt institution. Prove us wrong, please!
Justice Gorsuch says to President Biden about Supreme Court reform: “Be careful”
Justice Neil Gorsuch went on Fox News to promote his new book in which he lectures the American people about the “ferocious independence” of the Supreme Court. During his comments, he claimed that he was refraining from commenting on Joe Biden’s proposed reforms relating to the Supreme Court—the only sensible position for a justice who has an obvious conflict of interest and an ethical obligation to remain neutral.
But after initially refusing to comment, Gorsuch gave a lengthy answer that ended with a phrase that some have interpreted as a threat. See Jordan Rubin, MSNBC, The problem with Gorsuch's court reform warning to 'be careful' (msnbc.com)
Gorsuch said, in part,
[Judicial independence] is there for the moments when the spotlight’s on you — when the government’s coming after you. And don’t you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions? Isn’t that your right as an American? And so I just say: Be careful.
To be clear, neither of the proposed reforms threaten Supreme Court independence: an enforceable code of ethics and 18-year term limits. Gorsuch’s gratuitous “Be careful” is apropos of nothing—other than a threat directed at Democrats who want to impose reforms that will help prevent the type of corruption we see with Justice Thomas.
Justice Gorsuch has no business commenting on proposed reforms to the Supreme Court while appearing on Fox News—which is a highly partisan media outlet that has paid $738 million for lying about non-existent election fraud in 2020. Gorsuch should have never appeared on Fox—and he should have heeded his own advice about not commenting on Supreme Court reforms. By appearing on Trump's media champion, he signaled that he supports Trump. That is the most reasonable inference.
What will it take for John Roberts, the DOJ, and Congress to act? The American people deserve an answer. The only reasonable inference to be drawn is that the Supreme Court is a corrupt institution. Prove us wrong, please!
Supreme Court refuses to hear Missouri’s lawsuit to derail New York criminal case against Trump.
Missouri attempted to sue Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, claiming that Bragg’s criminal prosecution of Trump and imposition of a gag order interferes with Missouri’s right to elect Trump as president in 2024. Missouri asked for permission to file a suit against Bragg directly in the US Supreme Court.
Today, by a 7-2 majority, Supreme Court refused to grant Missouri’s request. See Amy Howe, Scotus Blog, Supreme Court rejects Missouri’s request to block Trump’s New York gag order, sentencing.
Per Amy Howe,
[Missouri Attorney General] Bailey criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for having brought “transparently weak charges for the transparent purpose of trying to impose political damage against Trump and trying to restrain his ability to campaign in advance of an election forecasted by the polls to be very close.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James countered that Missouri has not outlined the kind of tangible harm to its state interests that it needs to bring this lawsuit. Instead, James contended, “Missouri is clearly and impermissibly seeking to further the individual interests of former President Trump.”
Incredibly, Justices Thomas and Alito would have permitted Missouri to file a suit directly in the Supreme Court to prevent the sentencing of Trump on his 34 convictions in the Manhattan trial.
It is disgraceful that John Roberts could not manage to convince all nine justices to deny the patently absurd petition by Missouri. John Roberts has no control over the Court and does not deserve the office of Chief Justice of the United States.
Rachel Maddow’s Monday report on efforts to prevent certification of ballots in presidential election
For the second week in a row, Rachel Maddow devoted most of her Monday program to describing the threat of Republican election officials refusing to certify local election results in the presidential race. Rachel accurately described the threat and the historical facts relating to efforts to wrongfully prevent election certification. So far, so good.
Rachel noted that her program last week prompted lots of alarmed emails from her viewers. She said, “Sorry. You are going to hear more from me on this subject.” Again, good for Rachel.
After last week’s program, I received hundreds of emails throughout the week from readers of this newsletter who forwarded me links to Rachel’s program with notes that said, effectively, “Rachel says Republicans are going to steal the 2024 election and there is nothing we can do about it.” As I responded to those emails, “They will try, but they will fail . . . because we have legal remedies that will prevent those unlawful efforts.”
The problem is one of perception and balance. Rachel devoted 40 minutes of her program to describing the threat—but almost no time to discussing what we can do about it. True, she brought on Marc Elias for the last five minutes of the program, who repeated all of Rachel’s dire warnings. But here is what Marc Elias said in the last 15 seconds of his appearance on Rachel’s program:
“We will defeat these efforts to prevent certification and Kamala Harris will be elected president of the United States.”
In media jargon, Rachel buried the lead. The takeaway from the story is that certification of election results is a ministerial act that can be compelled by court order. Indeed, in the last 30 seconds of his appearance, Marc Elias said that when electors in Cochise County refused to certify local election results, Elias’ law firm obtained an order compelling them to do so. And those local election officials were subsequently indicted for failing to certify the election results.
The threat is real, and Rachel is right to raise the alarm. But we have remedies that have been effective in forcing election officials to perform the ministerial acts assigned to them by state law. Your vote matters; while we should be vigilant against cheating by Republicans, history teaches us that courts will compel local officials to comply with the law.
Is Kamala Harris “dodging the media” as JD Vance claims?
JD Vance is whining that Kamala Harris is “dodging the media” because she hasn’t sat down with a reporter for an interview since Joe Biden endorsed her two weeks ago. As Josh Marshall ably explains in Talking Points Memo, Kamala Harris is busy campaigning—and winning—based on the record and policies she and Joe Biden created over the last four years.
As Marshall notes, what Vance (and many in the media) are complaining about is the inability to draw Kamala Harris into a conversation about Gaza and inflation. And, as Marshall notes, as long as Harris is building momentum on other issues, there is little upside in giving Republicans (and journalists) talking points to attack Harris. See Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo A Miscellany of Observations.
Marshall writes,
There’s an appetite brewing in major segments of the political press for Harris’ momentum and press dominance to end. The Times had a piece a week ago saying Harris’s “honeymoon” was ending and that she had to find new ways to keep up her campaign’s momentum. That turned out to be editors trying to manifest a reality into existence. It didn’t work.
Wanting to know where a candidate stands on big issues is certainly reasonable. But Harris is pretty clearly running mostly on Biden’s policies. Her positions on the big issues are clear. Her electoral interest is to keep her momentum moving forward and not get picked apart by press questions.
Reporters want to dig into details. A lot of this is code for wanting her to shift to talking about Gaza and inflation. She doesn’t want to do that. As long as the story is her rise, she’s not under a lot of pressure to do either, at least not on anything but her own terms.
In short, there will be time for Kamala Harris to address other issues. For now, she is making a strategic choice to boost the momentum that greeted her entry into the race and promote unity within the Democratic Party.
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
Sister District hosts phonebanks for state legislative candidates all week long!
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Sister District research shows that Democrats are less likely than Republicans to vote down-ballot–so every conversation where we can familiarize voters with their candidate counts. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the Obama era where our exhilaration about winning the White House distracted us from how democracy was being systematically undermined in the states.
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Concluding Thoughts
This time tomorrow, we will have a new reason to celebrate and to be hopeful about our prospects for victory in November. Let’s try to replicate the boost of enthusiasm for the vice-presidential pick that greeted Kamala Harris’s entry into the race!
Talk to you tomorrow!
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The photo below shows a fragment of the Western Veil Nebula. (The fragment is sometimes called Pickering’s Triangle.) I previously featured the Western Veil's long arc, which is more recognizable and more frequently featured in photographs. I took the photo below to test a new software program that helps develop photos of deep space. Something is missing from the photo below. Can you tell what is missing?
Answer: The stars have been removed from the photo, leaving only the gas cloud, which can be seen in all its glory!
Taking photos of deep space is challenging. Space is black, stars are bright, and nebulae are frequently dim. Balancing the exposure of those elements is difficult. One approach is to “remove” the stars, decrease their exposure, and then add them back as a separate layer in the final photo.
I have had the new software program for less than a day. I have figured out how to remove the stars but not how to add them back! So, the above photo is a work in progress. It is a pleasing image, nonetheless, no? Stay tuned as I learn more about how to process the deep-sky photographs I am taking with my Celestron Origin.
Below is the original photograph with stars (the photo was cropped to focus on the main gas cloud). As you can see, trying to balance the exposure of the stars affects the color and nebulosity of the gas cloud:
The Western Veil Nebula is 2,400 light years from Earth and is about two Moons in apparent size in the sky. It is 53 light years from side to side.
"Marc Elias said that when electors in Cochise County refused to certify local election results, Elias’ law firm obtained an order compelling them to do so."
I was confused about the role of a private law firm and government entities responsible for enforcing states' election laws, but Marc Elias explains it on his Democracy Docket:
"...some states have specific statutes that outline a process to follow if a local official won’t certify an election. 'So in Michigan, for example, the state law allows state election officials to take over certification at the local level if a local official refuses to certify,' she explained.
In other states, the courts can step in, at the request of a voter, candidate, or another state official. The process, known as a writ of mandamus, involves a court to step in to legally compel a government official — in this case, an election official — to fulfill their duties, like certifying an election.
But what happens when an election official refuses to comply with a court order to certify an election? They could be removed from their position."
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-happens-when-election-officials-refuse-to-certify-results/
It's reasonable to expect a much higher volume of rogue/corrupt election officials planted to deny voting results not in favor of MAGA Republicans. It's prudent to prepare ahead of November 5 for these disruptions. We can spread the word to support Democracy Docket with donations and subscriptions.
Having been wined and dined and showered with lavish gifts by his billionaire 'friends' over the years Clarence Thomas always insisted that those friends didn't have cases pending before the Supreme Court. One wonders though, why of all the luxury trips he tried keep that one in 2010 under wraps.
In January 2010 SCOTUS with its Citizens United decision drove the last nail into the coffin called campaign financing regulation, ensuring a free for all for billionaires and corporations to influence elections. Thomas not only cast a decisive vote in the 5:4 decision. He penned a concurring opinion deploring certain disclosure provisions arguing that anonymous free speech was protected by the First Amendment and that making contributor lists public makes the contributors vulnerable to retaliation.
Harlan Crow, Thomas' host on that luxury South Pacific trip later that year must have been elated. So was the trip a little Thank You for a job well done? Honi soit qui mal y pense.