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The Senate Judiciary Committee will review reports that Alito's Hobby Lobby decision was leaked to an anti-abortion leader: 'another black mark on the Supreme Court's increasingly marred ethical record' (businessinsider.com)

submitted by s_y_s_t_e_m_i_c_New York

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[–]barneyrubbble 1035 points1036 points  (10 children)

All the Federalist Society dinners haven't been proof enough? Highly unethical, in my book. Should be illegal.

[–]El_Eleventh 16 points17 points  (0 children)

And then They go and complain that no one likes them. Gee big shock.

[–]AssumeItsSarcastic 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I mean, just look at where Scalia died. And if he hadn't died there we likely wouldn't even know he had been there.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OK, but bribes are fun.

[–]Numerous_Photograph9 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Now now. Don't be hasty. Gotta give the senate 3-4 years and then they'll look into it.

[–]S0uth3y 249 points250 points  (2 children)

Once you've violated your first norm, it gets easier every time.

[–][deleted] 81 points82 points  (0 children)

When there are no consequences, the violations come faster

[–]Familiar_Concept6583 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like the ladies of the nights: it becomes easier as Johns are available.

[–]ScenicHwyOverpass 237 points238 points  (11 children)

One of the weird things about law school in retrospect is how the federalist society is just one of the various on campus groups and clubs. It’s like hey want to join the “entertainment law” club where we discuss Hamilton or do you want to join the “club to undermine democracy and install theocratic fascists in every level of the court club.”

[–]sparkywater 144 points145 points  (9 children)

I did not understand who these people were prior to law school. At orientation I talked with their table for like all of 30 seconds and was like ‘oh this a cultural supremacy cult’. These are the lawyers that make people hate lawyers.

[–]Feed_Me_No_Lies 20 points21 points  (5 children)

Very interesting. So this is just some club? Some informal group? I know of them and their power, but I have not researched their origins or funding methods.

[–]maybedaydrinkingWashington 33 points34 points  (3 children)

Look up Leonard Leo and the Netflix documentary on The Family.

[–]Feed_Me_No_Lies 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Oh, I have a book on the family and I started to crack it but I found it dry and put it down. Lol. I guess I need to pick it back up.

[–]Race-Point13 5 points6 points  (1 child)

It’s where Sen. Susan Collins went with her hand out after her stage-managed vote on Kavanaugh. Literally went right to his Maine coast mansion for a federalist fundraiser.

[–]ScenicHwyOverpass 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They are a formal group with memberships and charters and stuff, but recruitment and enrollment starts on law school campuses.

[–]zombiepirate 8 points9 points  (0 children)

These are the lawyers that make people hate lawyers.

Hate lawyers and hate-lawyers.

[–]boiledwaterbus 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Yeah, it sounds quite smart from an outside perspective though. Start the recruitment phase before people have much chance to make their own minds up about stuff. Show them the power they could have if they follow the 'right' path. Help them excel if they keep in line. Keep implementing their own people into positions of power without having to worry about polling or popularity, only their own political influence.

Basically trying to take over a country without actually taking it over, if you control the courts - you control it all.

[–]Deconratthink 399 points400 points  (7 children)

Alito is morally and intellectually bankrupt and is just a theological fundamentalist trying to shove his theology down everyone's throats.

[–]najaravielTexas 51 points52 points  (0 children)

This is the rot and corruption at the core, fundamentalist religious groups and white nationalist christian zealotry. The court couldn’t possibly be trusted to deliver a decision that is impartial. Those days are over, if they ever existed

[–]brown2420 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Bingo!!

[–]CanterburyTerrier 35 points36 points  (1 child)

Who supports the torture of women with forced birth. Who would remove a woman's right to reproductive health. Who would force a person to carry, labor, and birth a child. A process which includes the potential of death. But, I'll let him speak:

“procuring an abortion is not a fundamental constitutional right because such a right has no basis in the Constitution's text or in our Nation's history.”

Alito was absent when they covered life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

[–]koolaid_snorkeler 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Shame on him.

[–]TheBeTalls 28 points29 points  (0 children)

That’s the kind of person it takes to embrace the conservative ideology

[–]dorothy_zbornak_esq 11 points12 points  (0 children)

And everyone knows it was him or one of his aides that leaked Dobbs, likely as insurance against Roberts swinging one of the other justices back to the other side. Every time Alito opens his smarmy mouth I just want to kick something.

[–]11thStPopulist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Judge “Aliko.”

[–]jsudarskyvt 293 points294 points  (11 children)

SCOTUS. Another Institution rendered illegitimate by the GOP.

[–]Pitiful-Let9270 38 points39 points  (7 children)

What part of “government bad” didn’t you understand.

[–]RockyUndBullwinkle 29 points30 points  (5 children)

So it was projection the whole time?!

[–]spookycasas4 3 points4 points  (0 children)

From the very beginning. Took me a little while to really understand how pervasive it was. But if you look back over the last 6-7 years, everything they said (and not just trump), was projection.

[–]CommanderTalimFlorida 4 points5 points  (0 children)

On an unrelated note: every time someone writes “SCOTUS” my brain sees “SCROTUS”

[–]classof78 245 points246 points  (10 children)

It's been corrupt ever since Bush v Gore was decided by the Supreme Court.

[–]blueyorkIllinois 222 points223 points  (8 children)

Fun fact: Barrett, Kavenaugh and Roberts helped Bush in that case. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/17/politics/bush-v-gore-barrett-kavanaugh-roberts-supreme-court/index.html

[–]TreyWriter 18 points19 points  (0 children)

You and I have very different definitions of “fun.”

[–]spookycasas4 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I saw this the other day. I was stunned. Not that kavenaugh would do that, but I didn’t know he had been around that long. I always think of him as so young because he’s so immature. Little whiny-ass man-baby.

[–]Specific-Rate8361 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow. Thanks for the educational article.

[–]TheBeTalls 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The court has been corrupt since the Nixon-Appointed justices ruled on Buckley v Valeo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckley_v._Valeo

[–]fakeplasticdaydream 197 points198 points  (41 children)

Disgraces to SCOTUS are Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito and Barrett. Fucking christian loonies.

[–]medievalmachine 131 points132 points  (34 children)

Openly corrupt and partisan, making money from the federalists who control their docket, support the plaintiffs and judges at the same time.

That Hobby Lobby ruling was ridiculous. Workers should own their benefits, it’s none of the bosses business. What’s next? Telling us how to spend our income, that’s what. The same logic as controlling our health care. Which should be a human right not used as employer leverage and extortion.

[–]Zomunieo 23 points24 points  (1 child)

Also Roberts. Alito seems to be in charge now for all intents and purposes.

[–]Studds_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why is everyone overlooking Gorsuch? He’s as bad as Alito & Thomas. Barrett & Kavanaugh look practically reasonable next to those 3 fundies. Roberts is probably the most sensible of the 6. That’s not saying much. It’s like comparing a sewer to a nuclear waste site. They’re both bad but the sewer is still an upgrade

[–]henrythe13th 14 points15 points  (2 children)

They don’t care and unfortunately nothing can/will be done about any of their corruption. They won, they’re ruling. They have no shame.

[–]KamachoThunderbusMinnesota 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Plenty can be done but that would require an Act of Congress.

[–]henrythe13th 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yes, I was including Congress in my “nothing will be done.” Let me know when Dems control the House again and more Senate seats. Because even if it only takes 51 votes in the Senate (and a Dem House majority) to increase the number of justices, there will always be a few senators (even beyond Manchin/Sinema) who will hem and haw about it til the end of time.

[–]SwiftFool 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Throw in a Scalia. He might be dead but that doesn't make him less of a disgrace. Self proclaimed textualist while ignoring what the text says and ruling on his own feelings.

[–]VolpeFemmina 30 points31 points  (2 children)

At the end of the day if we’re even adhering to standards set by the dominant forces in American society around the time of the revolution, we are not a country that is modern or adequately addressing the modern problems of its multicultural, multiethnic population. Slave owning aristocratic colonizing white men from centuries ago shouldn’t set our standards for what goes on today. It’s as archaic and out of touch as monarchy is especially at this point with the Federalist society.

[–]WolverineSanders 10 points11 points  (1 child)

And even that is a generous interpretation, because they don't even apply originalism in a consistent or good faith manner.

[–]_SpaceTimeContinuum 23 points24 points  (1 child)

The Supreme Court doesn't give a flying fuck about its reputation because there are no consequences to having a bad reputation. The extreme right is getting everything it wants from the court and that is all that matters to them.

[–]Separate_Bluebird161 48 points49 points  (1 child)

Justice for all*

*who can afford it

[–]Potential_Dare8034 24 points25 points  (0 children)

“You go down looking for justice, that's what you'll find. Just us.” 

   ~Richard Pryor~

[–]neozuki 15 points16 points  (2 children)

How many times are we going to lament the death of a respectable Supreme Court?

It was a farce when Republicans demonstrated their unwavering lack of popular support in over a decade of elections yet filled seats anyways.

It was a farce when Republicans stonewalled appointments by Obama, buttfucked tradition, and appointed their own justices.

It was a farce when Republicans appointed activist judges without the traditional vetting. Just ramming conservative activists into SCOTUS instead of, you know, qualified judges.

But I guess all that was just talk? It wasn't actually a farce then, but it is now? Either people aren't really angry or they have the attention span of a dead fly.

[–]kezow 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh there is a sense of hopelessness. The only way to remove a Supreme Court justice is via impeachment, and that is not happening while Republicans have gerrymandered their way to control of half the government despite the will of the people

[–]Zoidbergslicense 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you live here? Our memories are shorter than dead fly…

[–]itistemp 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Alito is nothing more than a Christian ayatollah.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Another ruling in favour of a far-right billionaire, stare decisis be damned.

[–]Lr217 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The US Supreme Court is an absolute joke. Complete political tool

[–]hiperson134 19 points20 points  (1 child)

So we stop going along with rulings made by him. Like we don't have to observe them as legitimate. Ignore them like conservatives ignore their state supreme courts when it comes to redistricting.

[–]mechapman38 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I've said this about the "Hunter Biden" probe the GOP will be doing. What are they going to do? Subpoena witnesses? A precedent has already been set, those Subpoenas are optional now.

[–]davidgstl 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Are you sure no money has exchanged hands? Been wondering since Citizens United. Not seen anything to dissuade me since. As soon as I consider they might be on the take, everything just "lines up", you know?

[–]MR1120 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Right? I can see the religious nutcases making the rulings they do “out of the goodness of their hearts” (said with extreme disgust), but siding with the rich and the corporations over and over and over… there has to be some kind of tangible benefit there.

[–]davidgstl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's the thing! And the access we're finding out (after the fact) that parties to these very issues have had and continue to have to the court. And the discretion they've enjoyed doing it. All that costs money.

[–]CarvedTheRoastBeast 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What kind of mark does Kavanaugh being a rapist leave?

[–]Illpaco 2 points3 points  (0 children)

By this point everyone knows GOP- appointed judges are only there to satisfy the political needs of a shrinking minority. All I know is that this isn't a sustainable concept. The silent majority knows what they're doing and sooner or later there will be backlash. I hope this backlash comes in the form of rendering these Republican political activist judges irrelevant along with all their legacy.

[–]KneebarKing 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Let's be clear... The right wing Supreme Court Justices are the ones with marred ethical records. They fucking suck.

[–]PowerfulContext1325 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know why this surprises anyone. Where do you think these assholes go on a Saturday night? They're not shooting pool with the neighborhood kids at Clancy's Bar and Grill and eating cheeseburgers and pickled eggs at the bar.

[–]thenextamerican 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be clear, the marred ethical record is that of the conservatives judges.

[–]Rocketsponge 1 point2 points  (1 child)

There's a fairly easy fix here. Congress should pass a law that says all SCOTUS case ruling documents are considered Classified: SECRET until such time as they are voted on by the full court and released for public dissemination. Then anyone who leaks rulings again will be subject to established laws surrounding classified materials.

[–]Zoidbergslicense 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ergo- only accessible to the court. And Donald Trump.

[–]tmdblya 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Court’s record? Or Alito’s?

[–]maonohkom001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a correction for that quote: “Another black mark on the conservative Supreme Court’s increasingly marred ethical record.”

[–]mymar101 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Who leaked the most recent decision? RvW? My guess is Alito or one of the other conservatives

[–]Accomplished_Trip_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Americans in the past saw the Supreme Court as a governmental body with educated, qualified, experienced professionals separated from politics. In reality, over a third of them never got a law degree, not many had experience as a judge, let alone good experience, and they all mostly got on the Supreme Court because they knew people in politics. Without regulation, they’ve always been open to influence. The Court is what it always was, people are just now learning the reality.

[–]LakewoodHayandGrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Break up the supreme court into various courts with jurisdictions over different areas of the law and term-limit the appointments.

[–]sugarlessdeathbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So for sure it was a republican that leaked Roe, right? Are we thinking it was Alito's office?

[–]trelium06 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Are leaks illegal or something?

I’m confused why this needs investigation

[–]Doctor_WormMichigan 2 points3 points  (1 child)

The Supreme Court is by design supposed to be insulated from politics, so it's hard to imagine a legitimate reason for a draft opinion to be leaked to a political advocacy group while decisions are being made.

It is not yet illegal but if you read the article, some Senators on the committee are calling for a new law requiring a SCOTUS code of ethics.

[–]trelium06 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks

[–]SarahMagical -1 points0 points  (9 children)

Honest question: why was this leak bad?

[–]fresh_dylWisconsin 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If a juror told somebody what would happen before a case was decided, they’d definitely face consequences (not sure what exactly, tbh, but I’m sure it would be pretty severe) as well as being replaced.

So even if it didn’t affect the outcome, Alito should face some sort of penalty, especially considering their outrage at the leak before Roe was overturned

[–]Doctor_WormMichigan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Supreme Court is supposed to be insulated from political influence, so what legitimate reason would there be to leak one selective piece of information to anti-abortion special interests while the court is still making decisions?

[–]Buttcrush01 0 points1 point  (6 children)

The court is not beholden to the people. By leaking before a decision is made the court's job becomes more difficult as they now have to deal with angry mobs and even assassination attempts (like with Dobbs).

[–]CompetitionFlashy449 1 point2 points  (5 children)

Maybe its a self inflicted wound to distract the masses allowing then work out the judicial coup they've been planning? I mean, they (NatC/Fascists) thankfully didn't take it by force on J6. I think they've been doing it judicially from the top down for the least the last 3 decades Ala-Moral Majority > everything we see today.

[–]Buttcrush01 -4 points-3 points  (4 children)

The democrats present more a fascist threat to America than republicans. The Dems are the ones trying to unarm the public, eliminate religion, and prop up major corporations in conjunction with the government.

[–]fluffymooingcow 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The right is trying to make it so that there's only one religion. People simply want religion out of government. There are people on the right literally calling themselves fascist...

[–]CompetitionFlashy449 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right... 😉 I don't know a Democrat that wants to eliminate the 2nd ammendment. Democrats are a combination of faiths. A corp is a corp is a corp. We're all just a number. I dont speak for all democrats, but as an individual American citizen, how corporations treat humans dictate mine and likely many a democrats purchasing decisions.

[–]CompetitionFlashy449 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In other words, "buttcrush01" I disagree with your perception of reality.

[–]Faptain__Marvel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was it the Democrats who raided the Capitol building and killed police in an attempted coup? Was it a democratic justice that leaked this legal memo?

[–]No-Satisfaction3455 -4 points-3 points  (10 children)

time wasting while americans starve and kids can't even eat school lunches 👍

i get it's important but how about a committee on the housing crisis, food crisis, it educational crisis. we are sinking and the leaders are playing grabass

[–]HuskerLiberal 6 points7 points  (8 children)

Let’s see if House Republicans take up these issues or will instead focus on Hunter Biden?

[–]pootiecakes -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

If only they could do more than one thing at a time... Oh wait. They can, and are.

https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legislation

But sure, you can defect as hard as possible. To be fair, I agree across the board that our leaders aren't doing enough for us, but to lash out about investigating a credible lead that a SC Justice is playing dirty? You'd only do that if you were trying to "both sides" this in favor of Republicans.

[–]NarrowConfidence908 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Liberals are well known for the lack of integrity.

[–]SeveralAct5829 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He’s the one who leaked it !!!

[–]biscobingo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m shocked.

[–]tacs97 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait. You mean there are ethics in the Supreme Court? Weird.

[–]nomolos55 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Typical behavior from a “conservative” Supreme Court justice- bend ethical behavior as far as one can then hide behind your robe.

[–]hendawg86 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Can we just impeach Alito if this is confirmed? Although I don’t know how feasible that would be.

[–]fly-by-wire 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"It should go without saying that if a Justice leaked this, he or she should face impeachment."

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) Senate Judiciary Committee

[–]Hazywater 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hobby lobby... Black mark. I see what you did there referencing hobby lobby's weird black market smuggling.

[–]AQuietMan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety" means something different to justices and to ordinary people like me.

I'm sure that means I'm just stupid in some way.

[–]Important_Tell667 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Conservatives will ignore injustice by Alito, unfortunately

[–]damienbarrett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like the kind of infraction that should lead to impeachment.

[–]s0c1a7w0rk3r I voted 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Conservatives, better yet regressives, have no ethics. They prove this daily.

[–]Development-Alive 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmmmm...so both were leaked out of Alito's office to right wing extremist organizations?

It's long been suspected that Alito leaked the drafts to "lock-in" the right wing votes in case anyone on the court got cold feet.

[–]AggravatingMousse604 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The conservative judges have perverted SCOTUS. It is now known as America's SCROTUM.

[–]curious382 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That Gym Jordan's committee? The one that tweets his political brand as much or more than his individual govt acct? Not holding my breath that Senators who voted against evidence or testimony in either Impeachment trial will look very hard at violations committed by his party.

[–]Just-stonking-buy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dissolve them.

[–]RanchBaganchMassachusetts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Methinks he doth protest too much.

[–]DocRockhead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judge violated this Code or engaged in other conduct that reflects adversely on the judge's honesty, impartiality, temperament, or fitness to serve as a judge.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Working their way into irrelevance really fucking fast.

[–]Agent_Velcoro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm glad to see them doing this but there will NEVER be accountability for this asshole.

[–]fiveofnein 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The fossil fuel billionaire radicals who co-opted the GOP in the 70's as backlash to the EPA being established have intentionally brought us to this point of a completely corrupt and partisan shell of what the supreme court should be.

This is intentional, and the "laws" of this land will never hold the people responsible accountable. Citizens must now take on the quite literal life or death consequences of pursuing the only route left available to us for systemic change.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alito & Thomas have seriously compromised the public trust in what is supposed to be the most objective, nonpartisan and trusted entity in our federal government. This fact will jeopardize our national security if steps aren’t taken to reinforce public trust in the Supreme Court.

[–]Lutheritus I voted 0 points1 point  (1 child)

what's the punishment for breaking ethics on the SC? Nothing, so why would a judge care about breaking ethics?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They might care about ethics just because it's the right thing to do, not because of punishments. But as you've noticed, they don't care about ethics for any reason.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If he leaked the information, is it grounds for impeachment?

[–]Ohrwurm89 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision held that corporations can refuse on religious grounds to pay for contraception as mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

Still blows my mind that such an irrational decision was made. Corporations are not people and thus can't have religious beliefs.

[–]Lost_Minds_Think 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trump drained the swamp, he just didn’t realize it was his swamp.

[–]Juviltoidfu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please quit using the terms “Supreme Court” and “ethics” in a manner that implies that one has anything to do with the other.

[–]ZerowantuthriIllinois 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And absolutely nothing will come of it but a tut-tut and finger-wagging.

Waste of time.

[–]G20fortified 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Such a pathetically unfair injustice system we have. A handful of buffoons to decide unconstitutional laws that effect hundreds of millions of lives for oppression & exploitation

[–]minigopher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The have reached the bottom

[–]ZeroVerve 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How could the founders foresee any issues arising from a lifetime appointment?

[–]Radiant-Call6505 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad to see democrats are finally saying they’re willing to do something about SCOTUS corruption.

[–]romaratea 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Republicans corrupt everything.

[–]JDeau93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I don't give a fuck about leaks from the Supreme Court. The republican 'packing' of the court with not voting on Obama's nominee for 10 months, then rushing through their nominee in 2 weeks prior to 2020 election is repugnant. Don't get me started about Clarence Thomas and his wife advocating treasonous overthrow of election. The leaks are a small step to shining light on a dark corner of our government.