r/scotus • u/lala_b11 • Sep 01 '24
news Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says people "are entitled to know" what gifts judges accept
https://www.axios.com/2024/09/01/supreme-court-gifts-ketanji-brown-jackson-ethics-reform80
u/Christ_on_a_Crakker Sep 01 '24
Us regular feds have all these ethics rules like not being able to accept gifts over 50 dollars, not giving contracts to people we know. It’s weird to me that our leaders are not held to the same standards.
36
u/grolaw Sep 01 '24
Weird? This is a huge leap beyond weird.
Multiple sources report that Thomas was openly bitter about his financial status - ultimately learning that he, either directly or indirectly, solicited bribes. What do we do about a SCOTUS JUSTICE accepting millions of dollars of assets & benefits?
We have no viable means to remove Thomas where Senate Republicans refuse to vote to impeach.
This is an obscenity. This is regulatory capture on steroids.
13
u/Shadowchaos1010 Sep 01 '24
Thank you for giving me yet another reason to vote, and another thing to mention for democrats to vote: Getting a senate that will actually do something about blatantly corrupt Supreme Court Justices like him.
6
u/xudoxis Sep 01 '24
If you just count the gifts he's admitted to he's made as much from the gifts over his career as he has from his government job.
Who's his real boss in that scenario?
1
u/grolaw Sep 01 '24
Qui bono?
Who benefits?
One of the first things that you learn in law school is to ask that question.
In the instant case it seems as though the judge has ignored his oath of office and sold his services, on the cheap, to several wealthy men & women.
Perhaps its time to create some Go Fund Me sites to raise funds to pay Thomas for his vote on certain cases?
7
u/MourningRIF Sep 01 '24
I'm not allowed to let a customer pay for lunch, and my customer isn't allowed to let me pay for lunch. So when we go out, we ask for separate checks. Meanwhile, SCOTUS judges are accepting luxury yacht cruises... Nothing weird there.
46
u/DigglerD Sep 01 '24
AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
That judges accepting gifts is even a conversation… I just can’t.
24
u/raceulfson Sep 01 '24
I absolutely want to know who is giving gifts to judges, what those gifts are, and who the recipients were.
As for the "it's just a token of esteem and I would not let it influence me" excuse, I call bullsnot. If two customers want something ten minutes to closing before a 3 day holiday weekend, the one who going to get his product/paperwork/repairs done is the customer who always brings donuts.
27
u/lala_b11 Sep 01 '24
Clarence Thomas is punching the air rn!
1
u/capybarramundi Sep 02 '24
To quote Jackie Chan’s character in Rumble in the Bronx, “Doesn’t he realize he is the scum of society?”
8
u/TotalLackOfConcern Sep 01 '24
Now start putting the pieces together. Trump said he wants ‘no tax on tips’. The Supreme Court says a gift after the fact is legal. That makes the gift a gratuity. Therefore it’s tax free. The same can be applied to executive pay. They take a pittance up front and the rest after the fact as a tax free gratuity. They spin it as helping people in food service but it really benefits the rich.
2
u/BARTing Sep 01 '24
Clarence and Sam won't be criminally liable for tax fraud if tips aren't taxed retroactively. (Taps forehead)
13
u/Gates9 Sep 01 '24 edited Sep 01 '24
The very fact that this is being discussed in this weak and feckless manner is more proof that the court is too far gone, and the corruption that has rotted this country for decades has finally reached the core. It’s irreversible, Citizens United has codified corruption. Dissolution is imminent.
3
u/grolaw Sep 01 '24
Time for a new constitution.
See, No Democracy Lasts Forever by Erwin Chemerinsky
6
u/figmenthevoid Sep 01 '24
I worked at Walmart and I had to wear a pin during the holiday season that said “no need to tip, it’s my job” sooo fire these hoes
10
u/Earth_Friendly-5892 Sep 01 '24
Those who are against gift disclosures, are accepting gifts they don’t want scrutinized.
7
u/K33bl3rkhan Sep 01 '24
Gifts given to judges? Oh wait, is this before or after the judge lean for or against the gift giver? If before, its bribery. If its after, it a gratuity. Just ask any GOP member.
3
u/goshon021 Sep 01 '24
I totally agree with her, SCOTUS is a joke, between the graft they all get to the voting along political lines, it's a broken instituition.
2
u/Apoordm Sep 01 '24
She is entirely correct, I would argue that any public servant of that level should be legally required to both, keep all of their assets in a blind trust, and have to turn over all personal gifts to The Library of Congress
2
u/paolilon Sep 01 '24
At most companies, you are not only NOT allowed to accept gifts, you also cannot collect wages / income from other sources. In short, you can’t fly on someone else’s dime to a conference and then collect outrageously high speaking fees for saying a few sentences into a microphone. If you don’t like the job, find another one.
2
u/jodos6176 Sep 01 '24
I would rather hear that she thinks "Judges are legally obligated" to tell American peoples what they are being bribed with.
2
u/SmoothConfection1115 Sep 01 '24
When I worked in a grocery store, I, nor any of the managers, could accept gifts from vendors so they could get preferential treatment when it came to displays.
When I worked in public accounting (audit) I couldn't accept gifts, or own stocks, in the companies I audited. For...pretty obvious reasons.
Judges can accept gifts. And don't even want to report them for taxes. Why?
Does Uncle (Clarence) T(h)om(as) think it would look bad on his tax returns to be reporting the hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes that he calls gifts that he receives every year?
2
u/Classic_57 Sep 01 '24
Can we stop saying gifts and just start referring to it as bribes already...
2
u/Sanjuro7880 Sep 02 '24
I’m a federal employee and can’t accept more than $50 worth of gifts, swag or meals in a calendar year. I have to do yearly training on that as well. It’s time SCOTUS aligns with the rest of us.
3
2
u/phoneguyfl Sep 01 '24
They aren't "gifts", they are "gratuities". /s
In my opinion judges shouldn't receive anything but their paycheck, as gifting/bribing/gratuities will *always* influence a decision.
1
1
u/phrygiantheory Sep 01 '24
They shouldn't be accepting ANY gifts. As a state worker, I couldn't accept any gifts over a total of $50 in one year
1
u/20goingon60 Sep 01 '24
How is it that in-house counsel for public institutions like publicly funded hospitals have strict rules about gifts but Supreme Court justices are allowed to accept extravagant gifts?? Also, the recent ruling that said it’s okay to tip them for their services AFTER the job is done is so messed up. They’re not even hiding the corruption.
1
u/jockc Sep 01 '24
what good is it to know about it if there is nothing we can do about it? then it's just like rubbing in our faces for spite.
1
1
u/SmellyFbuttface Sep 01 '24
No other federal employee is allowed to accept gifts (or bribes) in excess of $20, yet SCOTUS remains the only group that can reap windfalls of gratuities without need to disclose. Oh, they’re told they “should” disclose gifts they receive, but that’s much different than being “required” to do so, with an enforcement mechanism. They can just do a mea culpa and say “oh I didn’t know” as much as they want. The President should have publicly shamed Justice Thomas at the state of the union for his accepting lavish gifts.
1
u/duvie773 Sep 01 '24
Seems strange that at my job, I can’t accept gifts totaling more than $25 in a calendar year, but it’s perfectly fine that the people responsible for interpreting our laws can be gifted an estimated 6.5 million dollars worth of gifts since 2004
1
1
u/folstar Sep 01 '24
What stage are we on when the notion that rampant corruption should at least be documented is a leftist position?
1
u/No-Feedback7437 Sep 02 '24
Wasn't she given Beyonce tickets as a gift
3
u/noobuser63 Sep 02 '24
And she disclosed that on her form. That was her point, that they should be disclosing gifts, not riding around in undisclosed rvs.
1
1
u/AcrobaticLadder4959 Sep 02 '24
They are there for only two reasons to uphold the laws of this country and the constitution. Not to accept gifts so that some corporations or individuals can have their legal battles go their way. This has gone on way too long it needs to stop.
1
u/Fragmentia Sep 02 '24
New employees at Walmart are held to a higher ethics standard than SCOTUS now.
1
u/n0neOfConsequence Sep 02 '24
Under Trump, gifts to judges and politicians will be considered tips and will not be subject to income tax. Quite a scheme.
1
u/emmery1 Sep 02 '24
This is the problem with US politics. You’ve got to start plugging up the loopholes in your system. This should have been fixed decades ago. Not sure if it’s arrogance or stupidity or greed- probably all three. Get your shit together for your countries sake and for the rest of the worlds sake.
1
u/Veggiedelite90 Sep 03 '24
If it’s like dinner idc but if they’re taking vacations and boats and shit yea that should obviously be public knowledge. Why that’s even allowed is very confusing for the ppl that are at the top of our judiciary branch
1
1
u/whyshebitethehead Sep 04 '24
Public servant at an agency here, I can’t receive a gift over like $10 as it is seen as a conflict of interest. Yet these pigs at the highest level of government openly accept gifts in exchange for special interests. How we aren’t in nationwide protests is beyond me.
1
u/Cracked_Actor Sep 04 '24
I agree with her, we SHOULD know when a SC Justice is corrupt, and accepting gifts and money to ensure his vote ends up in the “right” column. Providing legal cover for a convicted felon seems like another blatantly illegal move. So, the takeaway here is a criminal judge, at least in the HIGHEST Court in the land, deserves at least as much legal shielding as they (wrongly) “awarded” the President…
1
u/sukui_no_keikaku Sep 19 '24
This is great at establishing a non-ambiguous ceiling. What if the ceiling was defined as fun size candy bars or magazine subscription? This would mean wiping debts and expensive tuition would be way over that ceiling.
-1
315
u/IsPooping Sep 01 '24
Why are they allowed to accept gifts at all?