Clarence Thomas in Hot Water (Alito too!)

#51
#51
evillawyer said:
Roberts needs to get his house in order. SCOTUS should be about one thing and one thing only: deciding cases impartially. Justices should not be profiting from the position (outside of their regular compensation) while serving as a justice. I agree with Clearwatervol, if Ginsberg was accepting gifts and free travel (which she at least disclosed) that harmed her impartiality.
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Thomas is the poorest of judges and longest tenured of them (if not, he’s very close to longest).

Do you believe everyone else on the court got their money through legitimate means?

Also where do you draw the line between friendship and “accepting gifts”? Have you ever went on a boat ride with a friend or stayed in their vacation home? I know I have.
 
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#52
#52
Vol8188 said:
At what point does it become a gift? Is hanging on the boat with a friend or flying with them by it’s nature a gift?

To me this seems like a lot of nothing. People who own boats, often take friends with them
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Paid vacations are gifts.
 
#53
#53
Vol8188 said:
Thomas is the poorest of judges and longest tenured of them (if not, he’s very close to longest).

Do you believe everyone else on the court got their money through legitimate means?

Also where do you draw the line between friendship and “accepting gifts”? Have you ever went on a boat ride with a friend or stayed in their vacation home? I know I have.
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Judges can't do what ordinary people can do. They must avoid the appearance of impropriety.
 
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#54
#54
hog88 said:
I'm not defending his behavior, I'm questioning the purpose of singling Thomas out and not examining all of them. What is the agenda behind the attack instead of an overall examination?

Want to take a guess at which justice has the lowest net worth?
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Kavanaugh.
 
#55
#55
Vol8188 said:
Thomas is the poorest of judges and longest tenured of them (if not, he’s very close to longest).

Do you believe everyone else on the court got their money through legitimate means?

Also where do you draw the line between friendship and “accepting gifts”? Have you ever went on a boat ride with a friend or stayed in their vacation home? I know I have.
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I'm sure Thomas -- by all accounts a solid but unexceptional government attorney with no connection to Texas real estate -- was totally friends with this Texas real estate magnate before he got appointed to the DC circuit or SCOTUS.

It's one thing to go on vacation with an old college friend, quite another when you're showered with gifts by all these "friends" once you're the decisionmaker on so many issues that affect them.
 
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#56
#56
Vol8188 said:
Thomas is the poorest of judges and longest tenured of them (if not, he’s very close to longest).

Do you believe everyone else on the court got their money through legitimate means?

Also where do you draw the line between friendship and “accepting gifts”? Have you ever went on a boat ride with a friend or stayed in their vacation home? I know I have.
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You assume EL has friends. It may be a totally foreign concept to him.
 
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#65
#65
hog88 said:
Yet you never cared before.
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I was never presented with such a situation.

My view is that judges give opinions regarding legal issues as little as possible outside of the courtroom. Talking about past cases, humorous anecdotes and back story to decisions is fine.
 
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#66
#66
evillawyer said:
I'm sure Thomas -- by all accounts a solid but unexceptional government attorney with no connection to Texas real estate -- was totally friends with this Texas real estate magnate before he got appointed to the DC circuit or SCOTUS.

It's one thing to go on vacation with an old college friend, quite another when you're showered with gifts by all these "friends" once you're the decisionmaker on so many issues that affect them.
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Does it really matter when their friendship began? Does a political appointment mean you can no longer make new friends?
 
#67
#67
ClearwaterVol said:
I was never presented with such a situation.

My view is that judges give opinions regarding legal issues as little as possible outside of the courtroom. Talking about past cases, humorous anecdotes and back story to decisions is fine.
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Do you feel the current left wing members of the court have lived up to that standard?
 
#68
#68
Vol8188 said:
Does it really matter when their friendship began? Does a political appointment mean you can no longer make new friends?
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You don't see a difference in vacationing (for free) with an old college roommate and getting an effing yacht trip from some guy you met only after you got one of the most significant and influential decisionmaking roles in American government?
 
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#69
#69
evillawyer said:
You don't see a difference in vacationing (for free) with an old college roommate and getting an effing yacht trip from some guy you met only after you got one of the most significant and influential decisionmaking roles in American government? Please tell me you're not that dull.
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Wouldn't influential people naturally have more in common with other influential people? You need more than "they ride on his boat together" and "they go to bohemian grove together". To me that's what the rest of the world calls a friend and the idea that you can't make any new friends over the last 30 years or you can only have poor friends seems absurd.
 
#71
#71
evillawyer said:
You don't see a difference in vacationing (for free) with an old college roommate and getting an effing yacht trip from some guy you met only after you got one of the most significant and influential decisionmaking roles in American government? Please tell me you're not that dull.
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Do you know when they met/became friends or are you assuming?
 
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#72
#72
Vol8188 said:
Does it really matter when their friendship began? Does a political appointment mean you can no longer make new friends?
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He is a f#cking judge on the highest court in the land. There are different and much higher standards that must be upheld.

You would not defend any justice appointed by a democrat embroiled in the same bullsh!t. Have some integrity and call bs on this.
 
#73
#73
hog88 said:
Do you know when they met/became friends or are you assuming?
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As a matter of fact, yes I do know:

"The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia, helping finance a Savannah library project dedicated to Justice Thomas, presenting him with a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and reportedly providing $500,000 for Ms. Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group."


Source:

Friendship of Justice and Magnate Puts Focus on Ethics (Published 2011)
 
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#74
#74
ClearwaterVol said:
Judges can't do what ordinary people can do. They must avoid the appearance of impropriety.
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My father was a state court trial judge and he told me a few times about old friends of his from school or early days of practice inviting him to drive up to Gainesville for a game and he had to turn it down on the off chance any of them ever had a case appear on his docket some day down the road.

Its not about whether you are actually influenced, its about whether someone looking at it from the outside might think you are, casting doubt on your (and therefore the system's) integrity.
 
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#75
#75
evillawyer said:
As a matter of fact, yes I do know:

"The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia, helping finance a Savannah library project dedicated to Justice Thomas, presenting him with a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and reportedly providing $500,000 for Ms. Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group."


Source:

Friendship of Justice and Magnate Puts Focus on Ethics (Published 2011)
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Behind a paywall.

But they met in the 1990s and have been hanging out, vacationing together for over 30 years and it's just now an issue for you?
 
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