In my July 10, 2024 post  of this article to this website, I said that Justice Scalia “quoted from this toothless SCOTUS Code of Ethics to refuse to recuse from cases associated with the January 6, 2021 insurrection even though, according to him, his wife flew an upside-down American flag at one of their homes and an ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag at another.”  The name “Scalia” was in error.  The name should have been “Alito.”  I apologize for the mistake.  This error was corrected concurrent with this apology.

Eulus Dennis

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

In the 2024 presidential election…

Like your life depends upon it…

It does!

The conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court has lost their minds.  One would think that after witnessing the chaos that they brought upon the country after they overturned Roe v. Wade that it would have given them pause about what they had done and motivated them to correct their course: but it did not.  Instead, because it appeared to them that they had gotten away with it, they continued to do asinine things, like overturning Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. and make asinine rulings, like in Trump v. United States.  It seems that they did this with the thought in mind that they would grab unfathomable power for themselves but let the lower courts figure out what they meant in their gobbledygook rulings and how to apply the gobbledygook to cases that come before them.

The SCOTUS even tried to take some of the heat off their backs caused by the scandalous behavior of some of its justices by using this gobbledygook to mitigate what were arguably, in essence, bribes taken by some SCOTUS justices.  E.g., in the case where they overturned the bribery conviction against ex-mayor of Portage Indiana James Snyder, they employed mumbo jumbo about gratuities and whether money or other gratuities are received before or after an action is taken to justify the SCOTUS’ ruling to overturn the Snyder ruling.  Whether intended or not, this ruling could eventually be used to mitigate past and potential future acceptance of “gratuities” by SCOTUS justices if not totally preclude the acceptance of “gratuities” by SCOTUS justices from being viewed as scandalous behavior.

While all of this was going on, Chief Justice John Roberts declined the request by a congressional committee for him to come testify, the SCOTUS created a Code of Ethics that has no enforcement apparatus, Justice Alito quoted from this toothless SCOTUS Code of Ethics to refuse to recuse from cases associated with the January 6, 2021 insurrection even though, according to him, his wife flew an upside-down American flag at one of their homes and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at another, and now, the SCOTUS is on break until October 2024.  And, in the meantime, Democratic senators have sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the Department of Justice to initiate a criminal investigation of Justice Clarence Thomas for violating ethics rules and tax laws and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has filed impeachment articles against Justices Thomas and Alito.

This will likely generate a ball of confusion on capitol hill as those who support Justices Thomas and Alito will circle the wagons around them and say that such an investigation and articles of impeachment are politically motivated nonsense.  Then, they will quote from the toothless SCOTUS Code of Ethics to emphasize their point.  My, my.  Whether they investigate Justice Thomas or whether they do not; whether Justice Alito recuses from cases associated with the January 6, 2021 insurrection or whether he does not, whether Chief Justice John Roberts finally agrees to testify before congress or whether he does not, why can’t the SCOTUS just adopt a Code of Ethics in line with those of all the other courts in the land?!  This would not be a magic wand to end the SCOTUS’ problems but it would go a long way toward solving them.  Ultimately – in summary, the job of the SCOTUS is to 1) Interpret and apply the Constitution, 2) Conduct judicial review, 3) Be the final arbiter of the law, and 4) Ensure equal justice under the law for all Americans.  Maybe solving their internal problems would help them to get back to these things.

Even if we consider the SCOTUS’ job based on the few items in the above summary, of course, it is much more complex than this and I am obviously over simplifying, the SCOTUS has suddenly veered far of course.  It has suddenly overturned longstanding (stare decisis?) seminal precedents when nothing on the SCOTUS has changed except the number of conservative justices; they have a supermajority.  No meaningful revelations in these longstanding rulings have occurred.  No genuine epiphany by anyone, relevant to the law, has transpired!  Sadly, the only reasonable conclusion that one can draw from this is that all the talk about the importance and baked-in meaningfulness of stare decisis in already decided cases that the last three justices appointed to the SCOTUS spouted during their confirmation hearings was, like that of the writings of the SCOTUS’ latest rulings, gobbledygook, and mumbo jumbo!

The bottom line is that Democrats need a sweep in the November 2024 presidential election.  They need to win the Presidency, House, and Senate and they need to win them with a significant majority.  And if they win, they must begin reform in the SCOTUS immediately.  They must rescind all the things that those who want to make America something other than a democracy have put into place.  This will begin to reestablish America as that city upon a hill and clear beacon of hope that she has always been and remains.  But because her light has been dimmed by the opaque stain that those who would prefer to have an autocrat or a king have applied to her, the American people must work hard to regain the trust of “all” Americans and democracies around the world.

We can do this!  However, to achieve it, Democrats need all American voters to get out and vote in this election.  I have no doubt that American voters will choose democracy over autocracy or a King.  It is important that you decide between the candidates on the ballot!  Do not write in the name of a candidate because that will be tantamount to sitting out the election!  So always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!  Vote in the 2024 presidential election…  Vote like your life depends upon it…  It does!

Eulus Dennis – author, M2: Street Cop To Top Cop, Operation Rubik’s Cube, and Living Between The Line