SLIPPIN’ AND A-SLIDIN’ THROUGH THE COURT SYSTEMS

The US Extreme Court continues to muddy the waters even more as they sink lower in the depths of public opinion. Last week all nine spoke as one as they responded to the heavy criticism of late, saying no fix is needed if it isn’t broken, on the subject of their lack of a code of ethics. Justice Clarence Thomas, along with Associate Justice Ginny Thomas, lit up the internet with their complicity in the Big Lie endeavors of the Trumpsters; which then slid into the charges of undeclared gifts and favors from benefactor Harlan Crow who also has a suspect property deal festering in the background. Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor and legal ethics expert says all the details given out this week were outlined by Chief Justice Roberts a decade ago: the justices will set their own rules and police themselves, just in case you missed it the first time, so pay attention!

Next up, the lingering story about the Chief Justice’s wife, Jane, being paid millions of dollars for placing attorneys at organizations – a legit enough vocation –  although some have had cases being decided by the high court, a slippery ethics matter? A former colleague of Jane Roberts has provided reports to both congress and the justice department as she seeks an inquiry, claiming that the Chief Justice has “potential ethics issues.” 

Justice Neil Gorsuch made his recent debut over a property deal that occurred nine days after his court confirmation, selling a Colorado property, along with two partners, to the head of law firm Greenberg Traurig which occasionally has cases before the court. Gorsuch’s 20% stake in the property netted him between $250,001 to $500,000 as noted in his financial report, but he declined to disclose the name of the purchaser. Under federal law, justices are required to file annual disclosures, but are not required to follow any binding ethics code. Should they have ethical questions, the justices simply discuss it among themselves…simple and quick, no? Legal ethics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Kathleen Clark, views the problem “that the justices have not been subjected to basic accountability that just about everybody else in the federal government has to comply with.” Regarding Roberts‘ two-page letter issued this week, Clark says she sees “a failure to grapple with the fundamental problem of lack of accountability…the justices seem to be utterly clueless about the problem they have…they’re in a bubble apparently.”

The recent revelations has spurred calls for reform and last Wednesday Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski and Independent Senator Angus King announced legislation that would require the Supreme Court to create a code of conduct and appoint an official to oversee potential conflicts and public outcry. Additionally, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Court ethics reform. And just to keep the heat on Justice Kavanaugh, it was just disclosed that Senator Charles Grassley had possibly omitted key evidence during that justice’s confirmation hearing in 2018 which led to a botched investigation by the FBI regarding sexual assault allegations, results of a further investigation to be released by the Justice Department by year’s end.

The Tucker Carlson/Fox News breakup continues to resonate as we await word of Carlson’s next landing place, and to see what a miraculous turnaround Fox exhibits after casting off their demon…get real, nothing changes with them! Bocha Blue in a Palmer Report piece writes that the lesson here for Tuck-Tuck is that power is not eternal, nobody is immune from the hubris effect. Once hubris claws its way into one’s soul, anything can happen…ask Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly or Donald Trump. Blue says, “Tucker Carlson thought he WAS Fox news – its mouth and its soul. But there are millions of mouths out there, and the fox has no soul. Tucker is finding out the hard way that he is already yesterday’s news.” Perhaps MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow summed it up best: “You don’t get to call football games on TV for the NFL. You don’t lead hundred-year-long Messianic religious revivals. You don’t persuade Americans to start tanning their testicles en masse,” referring to a Carlson segment pitching a potential solution to lowered testosterone levels in American men.

Dumping Tucker devalued Fox’s stock by more than half a billion dollars, which shows the ratings and revenue quotient his show held, yet Fox carried out the deed fully knowing what was in store for them. Bill Palmer feels that possible scandalous information over and above the Dominion settlement, Carlson’s emails, or pending lawsuits by former staff and investors have nothing to do with the firing of their biggest cash cow. Highly profitable cable news hosts don’t get fired unless they suddenly become unprofitable or are about to become unprofitable, so there’s more to the story. The Daily Beast’s senior editor, Andrew Kirell, feels that Carlson’s ‘bigger than Fox’ attitude has permeated other hosts and that other heads will roll after the recent firing has settled a bit.

The juggernaut of court actions against the Former Guy roll along, with E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit against Trump garnering attention last week. While civil trials don’t result in ‘guilty/not guilty’ verdicts the jury could find that The Donald raped Carroll 23 years ago in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room, and is responsible for damages, shackling him with the term ‘rapist,’ a blow to his ego and perhaps devastating politically. Bill Palmer writes, “The thing is we keep hearing how such an outcome to this trial will have ‘no impact’ on Trump’s base, who will keep worshipping him forever. My response to that is a simple one: who cares? In terms of political process, the cretins in Trump’s base are simply not relevant.” He feels that since their votes are locked in anyway, they are 100% irrelevant, since they don’t influence those outside their own ranks, and unable to determine the outcome of any election alone. That base is a disturbing creep show, not a relevant political force now and never was…having no influence in his 2016 victory and unable to show up in enough force to sway the 2020 election, with a pitiful 55% in GOP polls currently. Both of Trump’s opponents in the elections received millions more votes than he, but all across the media spectrum attention is directed toward ‘Trump’s base,’ and not ‘Hillary’s base’ or ‘Biden’s base,’ while pretending those factions don’t exist. The path to winning elections is to see that the base is locked in and will turn out, and then focusing on persuadable voters outside the base. Let’s hope the electorate is paying attention, as well as the jury for E. Jean Carroll!

Georgia’s Fulton County DA Fani Willis released news that movement will be announced perhaps as early as July in the investigation into election interference by the ‘Big Lie’ advocates and maybe an indictment of Trump. She has advised law enforcement to make plans for disruptions and public protests, so it must be big! It appears her investigation is being delayed as cooperation seems to be improving as several ‘fake electors’ are taking advantage of immunity deals, having seen the handwriting on the wall. Trump is assuredly prepared to throw up as many roadblocks as he can muster, but that process is finite…no running out the clock to his heart’s content. Willis probably wanted to get this case behind her before election season, but even with the flippers coming forward, she must feel that those can be included in time to move toward a conviction.

Manhattan’s DA Alvin Bragg was up against a different clock, leading him to make his move to indict the former prez, and while that is true in special prosecutor Jack Smith’s case, criminal charges taking place in federal court will move much more quickly than most state courts. Bill Palmer feels that the “doomsday hype” about courts not having enough time to put The Trumpster on trial prior to the election are simply empty attempts to get retweets…thank you very much Elon Musk.

In the case of DA Bragg, he is still under a siege of sorts by Representative ‘Gym’ Jordan as he attempts to prove that this is all about a political witch-hunt to get Trump. Jordan sought to have materials turned over to his committee and was told to “go pound sand,” so he subpoenaed Mark Pomerantz to be subjected to questioning, following his resignation from the DA’s office, and the subsequent publishing of a book, entitled ‘People vs. Donald Trump…An Inside Account.’ Pomerantz came out of retirement to join DA Cyrus Vance’s team to look into Trump’s business practices and after investigating for a year and concluding that an indictment was in order, ala former mob boss, John J. Gotti, DA Vance left that office to be succeeded by Bragg, who was less enthusiastic about an indictment initially. Pomerantz left, wrote his book under a hailstorm of criticism for revealing aspects of the case, but insists he had not jeopardized pursuit of prosecution, whereupon Bragg initiated a civil case that does not include criminal penalties.

Bragg appealed to the courts to disallow a Pomerantz appearance on May 12 before Jordan’s committee, but later withdrew the appeal to open up the way in Jordan’s favor. The congressman’s charge that political motivation energizes the indictment is going to be a disappointment for him, since Pomerantz’s letter of resignation explains the root of his frustration and why he left the Manhattan team. He felt there was “evidence sufficient to establish Mr. Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” and further stating that The Don was “guilty of numerous felony violations” making it doubtful that benefit will accrue to Jordan’s so-called investigation. As a former prosecutor, Pomerantz wanted charges to be filed, and Bragg was seemingly not motivated. According to Glenn Kirschner of ‘Justice Matters,’ Jordan is way out of his league in questioning someone of prosecutor Pomerantz’s status and that he will be chewed up and spat out directly back into the Trump Clown Car. Kirschner asks: “Who’s ready to see Pomerantz verbally tap dance all over Jim Jordan’s head?” as he raises his hand with a devilish smile.

We are reminded by Glenn that Jordan ‘blew off’ the very subpoenas to testify that he is now issuing, and makes a suggestion that his committee be renamed “the Congressional Committee to aid and abet Donald Trump.” ‘Do as I say and not as I do,’ eh ‘Gym-bo?’ Present at the testimony will be the DA’s General Counsel to shut down any improper questioning that might jeopardize the ongoing criminal investigation, so Jordan with no power to override refusals to answer questions is facing a brick wall.

The ‘Prove Mike Wrong Challenge’ has come to a semi-satisfying conclusion after a computer forensics expert submitted his report disproving that My Pillow B.S.-artist Mike Lindell failed to produce data showing evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. Mikey’s embarrassing “Cyber Symposium” held in South Dakota in August 2021 attempted to show the existence of packet data, but the data scrolling on his big screen had no relation to election data; but, the contest judges, including one of Lindell’s attorneys, declined to pay the $5 million offered to prove the data as invalid. Robert Zeidman, who proved it was a scam, then filed for arbitration under the contest rules with both parties presenting their evidence in January. Finally, in April, the three arbitrators ruled against Mr. My Pillow, saying he had to pay the five mil as promised. Stupid, egotistical, and untrustworthy Mikey has no intention of forking it over, as he doubles down, and it will likely end up in court. With this much at stake we can expect to see Donald Trump try to worm his way into this fray for yet another handout.