GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee, including Lindsey Graham (SC), opposed ethics today by blocking a bill requiring the Supreme Court to adopt and enforce a code of conduct. Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) had asked for unanimous consent to pass the legislation. He pointed out that “the Supreme Court’s own code of conduct should disqualify themselves in cases where there is reasonable doubt about their impartiality,” but Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas will not recuse themselves despite “serious questions about [their] impartiality.” John Kennedy (LA), Mike Lee (UT), and John Cornyn (TX) sided with Graham.
Unlike all other federal judges, who have a Code of Conduct, the high court has almost no guidelines. According to federal law, they must report income, debts, land sales and purchases, and gifts, but some of them have used the loophole “personal hospitality clause” to not make disclosures for food, lodging, or entertainment as “personal hospitality of an individual.” With nagging from Democratic senators, the Court adopted a non-binding Code of Conduct for themselves in November 2023, but it’s unenforceable. Wednesday’s proposed bill would impose new reporting rules and a process for filing ethics complaints against justices with a board of federal appeals court judges resolving complaints.
Republican senators called it partisan politics, but it applies to all justices. Whitehouse said that “the highest court should have the lowest ethics standards.” Instead of being superior to the other two branches of government, the Supreme Court is separate but equal, subject to the same constraints as the other two.
Dragging their feet, Supreme Court justices have little more than two weeks to finish up the session and still haven’t announced opinions for 29 cases that were argued, almost half the 61 cases they heard this year. At least 14 decisions can create new law in the nation. One year, several decisions were made the last day, and the more unpopular justices already to leave the U.S. on the next day.
In the House, Republicans voted 216-207 to hold AG Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not providing them the audio tapes of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden about his possession of classified documents. The transcript of the nine-hour meetings has already been released to the public. Although other Republicans hesitated, David Joyce (OH) was the only one to join the unanimous no vote from Democrats. Seven Democrats and one Republican didn’t vote. Biden has already asserted executive privilege in refusing to give the tapes to the Republicans. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said that the GOP has targeted Garland after failing in finding evidence for a Biden impeachment. “It’s about feeding the MAGA base,” he explained.
Joyce commented:
“As a former prosecutor, I cannot in good conscience support a resolution that would further politicize our judicial system to score political points. The American people expect Congress to work for them, solve policy problems, and prioritize good governance.
“Enough is enough.”
CNN has joined the fray for the Hur tapes in a legal fight for access along with almost a dozen other news outlets and other organizations, including the conservative Heritage Foundation and Judicial Watch. The Biden administration has contested Hur’s description of the president, especially the description of his memory and cognitive capabilities. Even Hur doesn’t support Hur’s negative claims with his own details.
As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan (D-OH) attacked the DOJ on another front, accusing it of orchestrating the New York state prosecution of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) for the Biden administration. Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte from the DOJ Office of Legislative Affairs called Jordan’s allegations “speculation,” “conspiratorial speculation,” “unfounded,” “baseless,” “irresponsible,” and “false.” Jordan had demanded all email communications between the DOJ and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office, and Uriarte responded:
“We found none. This is unsurprising. The District Attorney’s office is a separate entity from the Department. The Department does not supervise the work of the District Attorney’s office, does not approve its charging decisions, and does not try its cases. The Department has no control over the District Attorney, just as the District Attorney has no control over the Department. The Committee knows this.”
Last week, Garland expressed his concern about the baseless and dangerous allegations leading to an increase in threats to department officials directly resulting from these conspiracy theories.
After the inflation rate stayed flat, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at 5.25 percent to 5.50 percent because consumer prices are gradually moderating. The Feds predict interest rates will drop once in 2024.
Republicans have no policies for their campaign so they pile onto DDT’s goal of revenge against a large majority of the U.S. population. The latest joiner, Steve Bannon, is not happy about heading to jail on July 1 for refusing to comply with a subpoena. He threatened former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe with imprisonment or worse. Bannon said, “Get your passport, get the hell out of the country because hey, we’re coming.” On CNN’s The Source, McCabe worried about a second term by DDT after host Kaitlan Collins asked him about the dangers of DDT’s declarations of retribution. Bannon said:
“Go ahead, go to the ends of the earth. We will hunt you down and bring you back and you will stand accountable before the American people.”
In Tuesday’s special election for Ohio’s 6th congressional district, 32,617 people gave the House one more GOP vote for the next half-year with Michael Rulli’s election. The total number of votes was a little more than 20 percent of those voting for the seat in 2022.
In South Carolina, conservative GOP House incumbents Nancy Mace and William Timmons survived farther-right opposition as Mace, opposed by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), fought for her reelection after she votes to topple him. DDT’s last minute endorsement of her after she flipped from her moderate position as his critic to his sycophant may have helped her victory. Timmons also had endorsements from DDT, Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Jim Jordan (R-OH) against Adam Morgan, co-founder of the Freedom Caucus and receiving some of their endorsements. All DDT’s endorsements for major elections won, perhaps because he hedged his bets by waiting until a day or two before the elections.
In South Carolina’s most conservative congressional district, #3, no one received 50 percent in the GOP primary so Mark Burns faces Sheri Biggs in the June 25 runoff. Burns has called for the government to “start executing people who are found guilty for their treasonous acts” and wants to put to death Sen. Lindsey Graham, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and anyone else who promotes “LGBTQ indoctrination.” DDT gave him a “complete and total endorsement.”
Biden has arrived in Italy for the G7 summit where he plans to sign a bilateral security agreement pledging long-term defense and security cooperation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Future presidents can withdraw from the “executive agreement.” Negotiations started last fall, but Biden waited until the Congress voted for Ukraine’s funding.
With new Western-provided supplies and air defense systems, Ukraine shot down 29 of 30 Russian missiles and drones over Kyiv. Missiles were planned for the same time as a volley of Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones. Russia continues to use criminals for the war, releasing women from prison to joining the fighting in Ukraine. Russia also lost two more planes, one shot down and the other in a training accident. The training flight blew up after the plane hit a rock. Yes, really.
The House has displayed friction in preparation for the upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 24. As the date nears, the number of Democrats boycotting the speech by the highly conservative leader is increasing. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) said that he wouldn’t “attend and turn my back towards him” so he just won’t attend. At least 58 congressional members boycotted Netanyahu’s 2015 speech to Congress when he used the time to vilify President Obama and his Iran nuclear deal. At that time, VP Joe Biden was traveling abroad. This time Netanyahu has continually rejected Biden’s overtures to stop the war in Gaza. Although Senate Majority Leader Mitch Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) signed the letter inviting Netanyahu for his speech, they were not present when Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the official announcement. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called the invitation “wrong.”
- The Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility.
- The Republican party is the party of family values.
- The Republican party is the party of law and order.
- Count on the Republican party to keep big government out of your life.
- Upper-class tax cuts trickle down.
Nel's New Day 
Leave a comment