The Supremes Move to Protect Clarence from Prosecution

The Supreme Court overturned the bribery conviction of a former Indiana mayor on Wednesday, the latest in a series of decisions narrowing the scope of federal public corruption law.

The high court’s 6-3 opinion along ideological lines found the law criminalizes bribes given before an official act, not rewards handed out after.

“Some gratuities can be problematic. Others are commonplace and might be innocuous,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote. The lines aren’t always clear, especially since many state and local officials have other jobs, he said.

The high court sided with James Snyder, a Republican who was convicted of taking $13,000 from a trucking company after prosecutors said he steered about $1 million worth of city contracts to the company.

So if a contractor or lobbyist hands a politician a sack of cash before the politico does something they want, that's a "bribe", but if the cash is given after the politician does something for them, that's a "gratuity" and is legal.

Sounds to me that this ruling is nothing more than a move to protect Clarence Thomas from being prosecution for the millions of dollars worth of gratuities that he's received.

Meanwhile...

A solid majority of Americans say Supreme Court justices are more likely to be guided by their own ideology rather than serving as neutral arbiters of government authority, a new poll finds, as the high court is poised to rule on major cases involving former President Donald Trump and other divisive issues.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 7 in 10 Americans think the high court’s justices are more influenced by ideology, while only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults think the justices are more likely to provide an independent check on other branches of government by being fair and impartial.

Even a majority of Republicans believe that. So they're not even convincing their own base that they are more fair and impartial than Fox News.

For a branch of government that has no enforcement power of its own, that depends on people more-or-less voluntarily agreeing to accept their decisions as being fair and abiding by them, this is dangerous territory to be in.

ETA: They should sell tickets to people who want to line up in order to piss on the grave of George H.W. Bush for putting that corrupt fuck on the Court.

A Lot of Feds Will Do No Work Today

Many Federal offices are closed today for a national day of mourning for the last mainline Republican President, George H.W. Bush.

Bush was many things. His life showed that he believed in duty to his country and service to others. Against the wishes of his parents, he enlisted in the Navy when he turned 18. He was a pragmatist who not only despised ideologues, but he was willing to make a massive political sacrifice for the good of the nation.[1] The 1990 budget deal cost him a second term, yet it put the Federal budget on the bath to being balanced.[2]

Bush was an advocate of volunteerism. He believed in helping those who were less fortunate.[3] He believed in improving the environment.[4] He did not believe in bragging.

Contrast that, if you will, with the current President; a man who has three discernible motivations: Self-interest, vengeance and bigotry. It is patently clear that Trump and Bush had nothing but contempt for one another. Yet Trump put a VC-25 at the disposal of the Bush family to carry Bush's remains from Texas to Washington and back and allowed the Bush family to stay at Blair House.[5]

Trump's history is that he does not have a smidgen of human kindness or consideration for others in his makeup.[6] If he's being nice to the Bush family (and not pitching a Twitter fit over not having a speaking role at the funeral service), one has to wonder: What's in it for him?
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[1] “We’re getting pounded and the right wing is the worst,” Bush wrote in his diary in 1990, after he agreed to a compromise budget bill that included taxes he had tried to avoid. “There is a clump of these extreme extremists that I detest. But I can’t let the bastards get us down. … Push forward.”
[2] Something that was actually happening until his wastrel son blew it up in 2001.
[3] The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
[4] The Clean Air Act of 1990 did a lot to limit acid rain.
[5] These are traditional courtesies to deceased presidents, but Trump has little use for tradition.
[6] I'm not a shrink, but I believe that the term "narcissistic sociopath" fits Trump like a bespoke suit.