Finish of DDT Trial on Days 22-23, Alito a Liar

Conviction of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT):

On Thursday, May 30, 2024, the 23^rd day of DDT’s criminal trial was a day for the history books: a jury of 12 found DDT, a former White House Occupant and a current leading GOP presidential candidate in 2024, guilty on all 34 charges presented to them in a New York criminal case. Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA), a leading ally of DDT and second in line to the presidency, called the day a “shameful day in American history.” Although he meant the statement in a different way, he was accurate: DDT has led the nation into a “shameful … history.” Republicans’ candidate is a convicted felon. The Guardian has an excellent recap of the trial’s 20 days for those who have not followed it.

Judge Juan Merchan denied DDT’s motion for an acquittal and set a sentencing hearing for July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention. The Biden campaign said the verdict illustrates that “no one is above the law.” DDT can still go to the White House if he’s elected, but he can’t vote in Florida where he’s registered to vote. His appeal could take months or years, and the election is a only 158 days away. The conviction in the criminal trial may not require jail time, but his violating the gag order could.

DDT is the the first one of 46 presidents to be convicted of a crime since George Washington was inaugurated 235 years ago. All the charges were for falsifying business records stemming from DDT’s orchestration to suppress information about alleged extra-marital affairs before he went to the White House in a conspiracy with his former attorney/fixer Michael Cohen. Prosecutors succeeded in presenting evidence about DDT interfering in the 2016 by lying on various business records. His defense may have failed because attorneys allegedly followed DDT’s directions. Their attempts to prove DDT didn’t commit any crimes, that his payments were legal, failed.

The jury’s decision came after less than ten hours of deliberation on two different days. Guilt came from jurors’ agreement that DDT intentionally—with “conscious objective or purpose”—sought to defraud “any person or entity,” with the intent to “commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”

Thursday started with the judge complying with jurors requests to repeat his instructions and the reading of 34 transcript pages about David Pecker’s and Michael Cohen’s testimony. They asked about Pecker’s testimony explaining the reneging of selling Karen McDougal life rights about her affair with DDT to him through a third party. Other Pecker testimony requests were a telephone call with DDT and a Trump Tower meeting. Cohen’s testimony was also the meeting.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) misrepresented the judge’s directions to the jury when he Xed that jurors don’t have to unanimously agree “on which crime was committed as long as they all at least pick one [even] ones Trump WASN’T EVEN CHARGED WITH!!! This is exactly the kind of sham trial used.” Merchan told the jury that DDT didn’t have to be unanimous about what crime DDT was trying to cover up, just the unanimous agreement that he was trying to cover up a crime. As a lawyer, Rubio should have understood the directions, but Fox repeated his misrepresentation (aka falsehood?). Although the judge read the charges in great detail while DDT was in the courtroom, he complained about not being told about them.

On Wednesday, DDT’s campaign emailed a fundraising request that read, “I COULD BE IN JAIL TOMORROW!” and added that Democrats are “using every disgusting trick in the book to ELIMINATE MAGA.”  He also posted that “Mother Theresa could not beat these charges,” claiming they are rigged. Mother Theresa never faced charges of fraudulent payment of hush money to a porn star.

 On the same day, Fox announced its verdict for the trial, which turned out to be wrong: DDT is innocent of all wrongdoing, and President Joe Biden is guilty of weaponizing government to wage “lawfare” on his political opponent, resorting to illegal “election interference.” DDT uses this lie as the basis of his rants about his criminal cases, the one he values most. Fox host, Shannon Bream, corrected the lie in an interview with DDT’s attorney Alina Habba by telling her that Biden had nothing to do with the New York state trial. DDT called Bream “naïve” in a post and added, “HOW STUPID! Not only is [Biden] involved, he is virtually leading it, and all of the other Trials as well.” After the verdict, his audience can expect far more lies from him.

DDT’s campaign considers his conviction a goldmine for fundraising that it warned all GOP candidates not to use it for personal use. Chris LaCivita, the campaign co-manager, announced:

“Any Republican elected official, candidate or party committee siphoning money from President Trump’s donors are no better than Judge Merchan’s daughter. We’re keeping a list, we’ll be checking it twice and we aren’t in the spirit of Christmas.”

DDT called a press conference on  Friday morning at 11:00 am at Trump Tower. 

Alito Lies:   

In satirist Andy Borowitz’s column about DDT’s conviction, “Mrs. Alito Raises New Flag,” he wrote

“The wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito raised a new flag in front of the couple’s home late Thursday afternoon. Justice Alito said that he played ‘no role’ in the latest flag-related incident involving his wife. ‘I have recused myself from all decisions made on my flagpole,’ he said. The Alito’s neighbors were not available for comment because they were too busy dancing in the street.”

For decades, most people didn’t know the names of Supreme Court Justices. Clarence Thomas changed this a few years ago when he took huge bribes for his decisions. Attention to Thomas migrated to Samuel Alito when he flew political flags at both his residence and vacation house supporting insurrectionists attempt to illegally keep DDT in the White House after the 2020 election. 

Alito has been asked to recuse himself from participating in cases about DDT’s immunity and whether the insurrectionists can be convicted of obstruction of justice. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee also asked Chief Justice John Roberts to meet with them, but he refused. In response to the letter sent to Roberts, Alito wrote he is “required” to not recuse himself because of the non-mandatory Code of Ethics. Some people insist the Code doesn’t impose “any” requirements on the justices, yet expert authority declares he should or must recuse himself.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) argues that the DOJ can force Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to recuse themselves in case about the January 6 insurrection. He said that the DOJ can petition the other seven justices to require the recusal of the two connected to the insurrection “as a matter of law.” The constitutional authority cited “the due process clause and the federal statute mandating judicial disqualification for questionable impartiality, 28 U.S.C. Section 455.”

Alito initially claimed that his wife was completely responsible for flying the U.S. flag upside down, but neighbors’ narratives prove he lied because of a fight about their anti-DDT signs. After days of silence about the insurrectionist flag at his vacation rental, Alito now also blames his wife, saying both flags—in clear sight—were flown without his knowledge and that she refused to take them down. He added that neither one of them knew the flags’ connection to insurrectionist. He said:

“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not. My wife was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.”

Because of ongoing controversies, the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct specifically for the nine justices for the first time last fall. It states a justice should disqualify from cases in which the justice’s “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” in which an unbiased person familiar with all the facts and circumstances “would doubt that the justice could fairly discharge his or her duties.”

Alito attributed the upside-down flag at his home came from his wife being called a derogatory name, but according to interviews with Alito’s neighbors, the spats with neighbors over their anti-DDT signs came almost a month after the flag was flown during the time of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Martha-Ann Alito called a neighbor couple “fascists” while the justice and his wife were walking by the neighbors’ home and harassed the couple so much that they called the police on February 15.

Alito also claimed that his wife flew the flag because the neighbors’ offensive sign was within 50 feet of where children waited to board the school. At that time, however, the pandemic permitted only virtual school sessions—no buses. Even after the sign was removed, Ms. Alito continued her hostility, even appearing to spit at the couple.

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, sarcastically wrote:

“I’m starting to think Justice and Mrs. Alito are not entirely trustworthy in their explanations.”

The Nation’s justice correspondent, Elie Mystal, wrote that “the Alitos are also liars.” 

Knowing how Alito will vote on cases protecting him, DDT congratulated Alito on Truth Social, applauding him “for showing the INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE, AND ‘GUTS.” 

Politico’s lengthy analysis shows Alito’s contempt for critics because he believes he can do anything he wants with no repercussions and the new ethics rules are a sham. Alito’s fabrication in the flag situation seem similar to the fabrication in some of his Supreme Court opinions.   

Within the Insane GOP World

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) plans to replace all those “Communists, Marxists, Racists, and Radical Left Thugs” (DDT’s words) in the government. Hundreds of DDT’s allies are spending tens of millions of dollars to vet people for 54,000 DDT loyalists to replace existing career government employees. Tech giant Oracle is helping the cause with artificial intelligence. These loyalists will fill legal, judicial, defense, regulatory, and domestic policy jobs in a plan DDT calls “Agenda 47,” an orchestration of Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 with 80 partners, including Turning Point USA, led by MAGA star Charlie Kirk; the Center for Renewing America, headed by DDT budget director Russ Vought; and American Moment, focused on young believers for junior positions. Johnny McEntee, once DDT’s bodyguard and then his White House personnel leader, is a senior adviser.

In Letters from an American, scholar Heather Cox Richardson writes:  

“In the United States there is a big difference between liberals and the political “Left.” Liberals believe in a society based in laws designed to protect the individual, arrived at by a government elected by the people…. Most Americans, including Democrats and traditional Republicans, are liberals.

“Both ‘the Left,’ and the ‘Right’ want to get rid of the system. Those on the Left believe that its creation was so warped either by wealth or by racism that it must be torn down and rebuilt. Those on the Right believe that most people don’t know what’s good for them, making democracy dangerous. They think the majority of people must be ruled by their betters, who will steer them toward productivity and religion. The political Left has never been powerful in the U.S.; the political Right has taken over the Republican Party…

“The Right’s draconian immigration policies ignore the reality that presidents since Ronald Reagan have repeatedly asked Congress to rewrite the nation’s immigration laws, only to have Republicans tank such measures to keep the hot button issue alive, knowing it turns out their voters.”

Richardson finishes her piece writing about testimony from DDT’s former lawyer Jenna Ellis in which White House deputy chief of staff and social media coordinator Dan Scavino told her in December 2020 that DDT wouldn’t leave after he lost the election. She said he had to go because he was voted out, and Scarvino said:

“Well, we don’t care, and we’re not going to leave. The boss is not going to leave under any circumstances. We are just going to stay in power.”

In this case, eviction from public housing may be extremely difficult.

On Veterans Day weekend, DDT also called his enemies “vermin” as German Nazis did to dehumanize anyone opposing him. He announced his plans to deport millions of immigrants because they bring infectious diseases into the United States and do away with Constitutional birthright citizenship. In U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), the Supreme court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment forced the reentry of a U.S.-born child of Chinese immigrants into the U.S. after he visited China.

The new conservative (self-identified centrist) NewsNation, owned by Nexstar Media Group, will broadcast the next GOP presidential candidate debate on December 6. Moderators will be former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly, NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the conservative Washington Free Beacon. SiriusXM, airing Kelly’s radio show, and the Beacon sponsor the debate which also appears on digital platforms and local affiliates of the CW, another Nexstar-owned broadcast network. Kelly anticipates “the margarita of debates … spicy, fun, and somewhat intoxicating.”

The last debate exacerbated tensions between GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) which controls rules for the debates. His accusation about the GOP being “a party of losers” included criticism about McDaniel for losing the elections in 2018, 2020, and 2022 after she became RNC chair in 2017. McDaniel said that Ramaswamy is “at 4 percent. He needs a headline.” The upcoming debate requires six percent polling for participants.

The wanna-be DDT, 38-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy, wrote that he would “instantly” fire 50 percent of federal bureaucrats on his first day in office. He would purge government workers whose Social Security numbers end in an odd number. Ramaswamy claimed he isn’t violating civil service rules “because mass layoffs are exempt.” In a second post, he said that the layoff “avoids civil service protections because people can’t claim “their firings were politically motivated.” With only five percent in polling, Ramaswamy needs to boost his ratings to meet the six percent requirement.

Ronna McDaniel, chair of the party for law and order, said the RNC will support a convicted criminal if he is elected.

Two days ago, Sen. Tim Scott said he would be at the GOP presidential candidate debate on December 6 despite flailing polling; now he dropped his campaign to be the “happy warrior” in the White House.

In Iowa, GOP presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, and DDT are invited to appear at the Family Leader Foundation forum. The RNC threatens to disqualify all of them from debates if they participate after they signed pledges not to take part in debates not sanctioned by the national party. Scott has dropped out, and DDT doesn’t plan to show up for the official December 6 debate. After the threat, DeSantis said he’s attending the Iowa event.

Jacob Chansley, the “Shaman” called by a federal judge as “the public face” of the January Capitol riot, indicates he might be a Libertarian candidate for Arizona’s 8^th congressional district, now held by Debbie Lesko who will not re-run for reelection. Sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, Chansley was released after serving 27. Other insurrections, including Derrick Evans (WV) and Jason Riddel (NH), are also running for Congress.

Trying to avoid the Senate forcing rules on them, the Supreme Court issued its ethics code which both Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have likely violated. Both of them, making laws for everyone in the U.S., are “confused” about ethics requirements regarding undisclosed property deals and gifts from those involved in high court proceedings.    

The “code” has two weaknesses. It has no specific restrictions on gifts, travel, or real estate deals; instead outside activities “detract from the dignity of the justice’s office,” “interfere with the performance of the justice’s official duties,” “reflect adversely on the justice’s impartiality,” or “lead to frequent disqualification.” Rules also prohibit justices from allowing “family, social, political, financial or other relationships to influence official conduct or judgment. One expert said that the code appears to be more of a suggestion with “53 uses of the word ‘should’ and only six of the word ‘must.’”

In a second problem, violation of these rules has no enforcement; federal judges other than Supreme Court justices can be investigated. For example, DDT’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, retired as a federal appellate judge in 2019 to avoid investigation into alleged fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings during the 1990s. Retired judges, who can still hear cases, are not subject to the conduct code although reviews can result in their censure or reprimand.  

Democrats may again bail the Republicans out of their messes, this time by supporting the clean continuing resolution with Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’ (R-LA) “two-laddered”—or more—approach. (Think about the possibilities for cartoons!) Ultra-conservatives created the idea with “moderate” Republicans opposing it, but the Freedom Caucus doesn’t want a “clean” CR with no severe border restrictions and defunding of IRS funding that continues current budgeting until bills are passed. Johnson proposes the “easy” appropriation bills to expire next year on January 19 and the remainder on February 2.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the plan is “far from perfect” but approves of it’s having no poisonous amendments. President Joe Biden, who originally was against the idea, now says, “Let’s wait and see.” Democratic House leaders reluctantly consider the bill although Jim McGovern (D-MA) called it “a last minute hail mary” making a future shutdown only more likely. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the plan is likely to pass, but it’s a “sad thing” for the House, “setting up ongoing crisis so that we will never come to rest and make a decision, which is bad for government, bad for the American people, and bad for the image of America.”

To get a vote to the floor, the bill’s suspension of the rules permits it to bypass the GOP-controlled House Rules Committee after some Republicans warned they would not advance the bill. Suspension prevents amendments and requires a two-thirds vote. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) used the same process to pass the CR in September which stopped a shutdown before he was immediately removed from his position.

Recently elected Gabe Amo’s (D-RI) swearing-in on Monday gives the House 213 Democratic members; the GOP is down to 221 with one vacancy. Watch for House Minority Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to hold up a green card, his signal alerting Democrats voting. A win with two-thirds means that Johnson will need to rely on Democratic support, something he initially said he wouldn’t do. Will the Freedom Caucus remove another Speaker?

Trials, GOP Extortion, Supreme Court,

President Joe Biden announced his run for a second term on the first day of his major opponent Deposed Donald Trump’s (DDT) civil trial for allegedly raping E. Jean Carroll 27 years ago. Carroll, the second witness, described the assault’s trauma and the disastrous aftermath that destroyed her ability to have intimate relationships. Furious, DDT posted smears of her and her attorney on social media. The trial judge warned DDT’s attorneys to tell their client to stop the posting with the possibility of a contempt of court ruling or other legal consequences if he continued and said that DDT appeared to be trying to influence the jury.

DDT’s first posting, that LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman was paying Carroll’s legal team, violated a previous order from the judge who ruled that Hoffman’s involvement should not be mentioned in front of the jury. Another post demanded that the DNA on her dress be considered although DDT waited until past the deadline to submit a DNA sample. The judge also barred any mention of the DNA. DDT’s lawyer Joe Tacopina struggled in court because he had already argued that the DNA be excluded. He told the judge he would talk to his client about restraining himself in his posts “to the degree that I have an ability to,” sounding meeker than during his hostile opening statements on April 25 attacking Carroll’s account.

Former U.S. attorney and MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance stated:

“Trump can’t be bothered to be in the court room & has said he won’t testify–probably afraid of cross ex. It’s easier to take cheap, untrue shots on social media.”

Former VP Mike Pence must testify before the DOJ grand jury probing the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court. DDT sued to block the testimony and then appealed after he lost.

The Supreme Court has returned the fate of mifepristone, an abortion medication, to the 5^th Circuit Court. The Biden administration has filed an appeal to overrule the ruling by federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas to outlaw the drug in the entire U.S. Plaintiffs have until May 8 to respond to the government’s filing; the appeals court will hear arguments on May 17.

The bill designed to strip millions of people in the U.S. of assistance to give a small amount increasing the national debt for a few months passed the House in a squeaker—217 Republicans to a total of 215 nays from all Democrats and GOP Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Ken Buck (R-CO), Tim Burchett ((TN), and Matt Gaetz (FL). Burchett realistically pointed out that the bill will “cut the rate of growth [and] actually add to the deficit over 10 years.”

Despite his win, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), needing the bill to keep his position, doesn’t look pleased with himself as he meets with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Biden. His only hope is that passing the bill will force the president to “negotiate” with him over its terms although McCarthy repeatedly said that he will not negotiate anything in the bill. The measure has no hope in the Senate, according to Schumer.

Biden said he would meet with McCarthy but not give in to his demand for negotiations. Deciding whether the debt limit gets extended is “not negotiable.” Biden has always been open to talking about the GOP budget, but the House cannot come up with one. A White House official said that the bill is “not a real budget, but they’ve now put forward a plan.”

Biden’s meeting will also not be with only McCarthy; it will include the top four House and Senate leaders and possibly top appropriators.

“I will not change the [debt ceiling] bill,” McCarthy had said and then changed the bill at 2:00 in the morning to get enough votes, caving into Midwestern GOP congressional members demanding the measure include ethanol tax credits. It also accelerated the time for work requirements for benefits to October. The bill cuts Medicaid and food stamps recipients with stricter limits for work requirements, especially difficult in rural areas, predominantly GOP. SNAP already requires able-bodied adults without dependents to spend 20 hours a week in employment or training, a mandate which states could waive during the pandemic from a DDT bill.

Even without the GOP bill, benefits have been cut this year for millions of people. Over 16 million households have seen shrinking amounts for food through the supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps). Seniors receiving an increase two years ago from the pandemic saw their allotment go from $295 a month to as little as $23. Up to 15 million individuals are soon losing Medicaid since the change in the pandemic policies that now requires continuous rechecking of eligibility.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) summarized what the GOP vote means:

“In tax cuts in 2017 passed by the other side of the aisle, we see wonderful tax cuts for yacht owners and private jets. But in order to balance our budget now, we’re talking about cuts to SNAP, to food out of babies’ mouths.”

Ocasio-Cortez was referring to the GOP tax cuts that gave massive benefits to the wealthy and big businesses. McCarthy and his tribe refuse to even consider any partial replacement of those cuts.

McCarthy lied when he said “a no-strings-attached debt-limit increase cannot pass,” according to Jonathan Chait. A bill to raise a clean debt ceiling would require very few Republicans to join the Democratic caucus. “Republicans say their least conservative members might be willing to raise the debt ceiling without concessions, but they are afraid of what the craziest Republicans would do to them,” Chait wrote.  McCarthy needed the bill for a ransom in his extortion plan.

Republicans are following the same pattern as they have for decades: the GOP automatically raises the debt ceiling when they control the government, but House Democrats don’t use the same extortion against a Republican president. The GOP is playing a game of chicken, risking the global economy, and Biden won’t pay the ransom.

In the Senate, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has refused an invitation from Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) to testify at a hearing about the high court’s ethics rules and potential reforms. Roberts indicated that doing so would threaten judicial independence because it is a separate branch. The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate aspects of the court’s structure and procedures. One of these categories is “Judicial Ethics.”

In a letter to Roberts, Durbin stated, “It is time for Congress to accept its responsibility to establish an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court.” Roberts responded with a restatement of court’s ethics, principals, and practices. He called the requested testimony “exceedingly rare” for what he called “mundane matters.”

Roberts’ attitude indicates that all is well with his court, far from the truth. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) requested a full account from Harlan Crow of extravagant undisclosed trips, gifts, and payments he gave Justice Clarence Thomas as well as evidence that Crow complied with federal tax law. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is the second senator to call for Clarence Thomas’ resignation.

In a bipartisan action, Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are introducing legislation requiring the high court to create its own code of conduct within a year and publish the code on its website to be available to the public. The court would name someone to handle complaints of code violations and give the court authority to initiate investigations for conduct by justices or staff affecting the administration of justice or violating federal laws or codes of conduct.  

Ocasio-Cortez declared:  

“Under Roberts, the Supreme Court has unraveled constitutional rights and seen several justices engage in corrupt financial arrangements. Now he is refusing to answer questions. How does Roberts expect SCOTUS to maintain authority if they reject accountability themselves?”

In June, only 25 percent in a Gallup poll found people having “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the Supreme Court, a drop from the 36 percent of respondents who said so in 2021. 

Thomas justified his actions by claiming Crow had not had cases before the court, but he was wrong—or lied. In January 2005, when Thomas stopped disclosing Crow’s gifts, the Crow family had a “non-controlling interest in a commercial real estate development company sued by an architecture firm for more than $25 million. Thomas did not recuse himself in the court decision declining to hear an appeal from the architecture firm. Crow’s company said tenant protections threatened its profits so Thomas voted to end them—twice. 

In another Supreme Court ethics problem, Justice Neil Gorsuch made as much as $500,000 on a real estate sale of $1.825 million but didn’t mention it was from the chief executive of law firm Greenberg Traurig with business before the high court. The offer was made for the property a few days after DDT nominated Gorsuch on January 31, 2017, eleven days after DDT was inaugurated and almost a year after the position had been vacated. Then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) held it open until DDT could name the nomination. The firm has been involved in at least 22 cases at the court; in 12 cases, Gorsuch voted for the firm eight times.

SCOTUS Justices Need a Code of Ethics

The Supreme Court returns Friday, October 1, and approval of the Supreme Court has dropped to the lowest in history. The reason is not only the agreement from six justices that vigilantism can stay alive and well in Texas until the anti-abortion law is litigated, perhaps many years from now. Without Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) to clamp down on news, the public now knows that the FBI suspected serious problems about Brett Kavanaugh before 49 Republicans and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin voted to put him into a lifetime Supreme Court term. It was the closest vote since 1881. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she voted for Kavanaugh because he promised her Roe v. Wade was “settled law.”

Without DDT’s AG Bill Barr, the Department of Justice confirmed the FBI received over 4,500 tips against him and sent “relevant” ones to DDT’s White House where they disappeared. Accusations of Kavanaugh’s sexual assaults from two other women than Christine Blasey Ford were also negated. “Yay” senators also ignored the appointee’s misleading them, possibly lying under oath in 2004 and 2006 as George W. Bush’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit about his partisanship as a young lawyer. The tirade at the televised confirmation hearing in 2018 dismissing his misconduct allegations as a “political hit” should have been obvious to Manchin if not to the other Republicans. Kavanaugh claimed then, “What does around come around,” and he’s living up to it. In addition to anti-choice decisions in the Supreme Court this year are disputes about guns, voter-suppression, and elections—possibly even insurrections after January 6. By now his decisions are becoming predictable.

Kavanaugh adds to the solid block of conservatives voting for Republicans: unlimited corporate spending on elections, elimination of federal “preclearance” of voting changes in regions demonstrating discrimination, permission of partisan gerrymandering on the part of the GOP, etc. Like DDT, he has openly criticized mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day although some states make them legal. And like his conservative compatriots, there is no such thing as “settled law.”

People wanting to give partisan Kavanaugh the benefit of the doubt forget he worked to put George W. Bush into the White House in Bush v. Gore after he spent four years with Ken Starr investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton. This work was rewarded by his appointment to the D.C. appeals court where a columnist wrote he was “nothing more than a partisan shock trooper in a black robe.” As a White House operative, Kavanaugh’s confirmation was blocked for three years until 2006. Democrats refused to accept protestations that he had nothing to do with warrantless surveillance, torture of terrorism suspects, and “Memogate” about a Republican aide who stole thousands of Democrats’ emails from 2001 through 2003 and shared them with Bush advisers.

During his earlier confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh lied about promoting three judicial extremist nominees despite emails proving he was involved in staging events, reviewing promotional material, attending meetings, drafting statements for Bush officials, providing advice, and recommending one of the nominees. And “Memogate” when he was often listed as either the first recipient of the emails or the only one. In 2004, he swore he had not received any of these emails and in 2006 said he was “not aware of the memos.”

Facing his former lies under oath in 2018, he moved from ignorance to admission he had received some emails but assumed that the aide found the information through typical information-trading between Republican and Democratic aides. One email told Kavanaugh exactly what questions Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would ask him at a hearing, and another was a 4,000-word strategy memo a Leahy adviser sent her employer. A third email, marked “confidential,” stated that “Leahy’s staff is only sharing with Democratic counsels.”

Supreme Court justices are the only ones in the judicial branch who cannot be impeached, and the same goes for unethical behavior. Chief Justice John Roberts sent scores of complaints about Kavanaugh, primarily about his lying under oath, to the 10^th Circuit Judicial Council for review; they were returned two months later, dismissed as moot because federal ethics rules don’t apply to Supreme Court justices. The Council did confess that “the allegations contained in the complaints are serious.”

Kavanaugh is not alone in needing a code of ethics. A year after his confirmation, Kavanaugh joined Justice Samuel Alito in meeting privately with representatives of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and posing for photos with them. Opposing marriage equality, NOM was participating at that time as a friend of the court in a case involving LGBTQ rights. Lower federal court judges would have been censured for this behavior, but both Kavanaugh and Alito dissented against the six justices supporting LGBTQ rights in the case. 

A year later, Alito gave an “ireful” speech to the highly conservative Federalist Society, delivering his strong views against gun rights, abortion, LGBT rights, and pandemic-related restrictions on religious gatherings. His statements left no doubt about future rulings. All federal judges except those on the high court must comply by the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.

Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni may top lack of ethics in the current set of justices because of their mutual scams. She collects unlimited dark money for her Tea Party-connected nonprofit, Liberty Central, and organizes Republicans on issues often reaching the Supreme Court. He works the court, including the ones in which spouses have financial interests.

A recent example is the issue of big tech when Republicans complain about censorship of conservative positions despite evidence that many of these, especially Facebook, have favored Republicans. Ginni promoted a website and “influence network” about big tech’s “corporate tyranny.” Clarence wrote a concurring opinion in a case dealing with DDT’s blocking his critics on Twitter and railed railed against the control “of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties” and the “glaring concern” for free speech.

Ginni started Liberty Central in 2009 with secret donations enabled by that year’s Supreme Court Citizens United decision. Legal ethicists questioned the existence of those secret donations, but the ruling’s permission of secrecy makes investigation difficult. Since then, she opposed the Affordable Care Act, which Clarence always opposes in the Supreme Court.

In the Pennsylvania decision permitting mailed-in ballots counted up to three days after Election Day if postmarked before Election Day, Clarence wrote a scorching dissent using DDT’s argument of fraud, especially in mail-in ballots used primarily by seven states. Yet the number of ballots involved totaled about 10,000 which would not have changed the majority for Joe Biden who won the state 3.4 million votes to DDT’s 3.3 million. Ginni endorsed the rally that led to the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Last year’s SCOTUS decisions set the tone for the upcoming term. The majority voted in favor of the GOP Chamber of Commerce 83 percent of the time and moved to the right in “religious liberty” and voting (non)rights in its shadow dockets.

The court’s power in blocking votes was obvious in gutting another part of the 56-year-old Voting Rights Act after destroying much of it in 2013 by supporting Arizona’s voting-restriction law, struck down by the 9^th Circuit Court. One provision was blocking anyone except a relative or caregiver from dropping off a ballot, and the other requiring the tossing of all ballots cast in the wrong precinct. Alito said that courts should use voting rules made in 1982 to make its decision.

In Arizona, precincts are hard to determine because the state seems to change them for every election, and the absentee ballot drop-off restriction is especially damaging to Native Americans on reservations and people who may count on friends to drop off their mail-in ballots. Alito said just because voting may be “inconvenient for some,” doesn’t mean unequal access. but the Tohono O’odham Nation reservation, almost four times the size of Rhode Island, has only one post office, trouble with transportation, and difficulty in mail delivery. 

The 4-4 decision in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s small extension in the mail-in ballot deadline before Amy Coney Barrett moved onto the Supreme Court bodes future decisions like Bush v. Gore, nullifying thousands of legal ballots. Trying to block state judiciaries from protecting state voting rights under state constitutions goes farther than the decision putting George W. Bush into the White House when Florida later found a majority of votes for Al Gore.

Packing the Supreme Court? That’s what the Republican senators and DDT did before Joe Biden’s presidency.