wiredgonzoFeb 4, 2023
Daniel Schuman

The U.S. Supreme Court is a dumpster fire.

-- Supreme Court justices used personal emails for work
-- ‘burn bags’ were left open in hallways,
-- Staff afraid to confront justices on bad security practices

Here's the news story:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/04/politics/supreme-court-email-burn-bags-leak-investigation/index.html

And the SCOTUS report: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/politics/read-scotus-report-dobbs/index.html

#SCOTUS #SupremeCourt #transparency

Feb 4, 2023 at 3:13pmWeb
Show threadDaniel SchumanFeb 4, 2023

Well this is interesting. "Each of these employees signed a sworn affidavit. A few of those interviewed admitted to telling their spouses about the draft opinion or vote count, so they annotated their affidavits to that effect."

Annotated their affidavits? Told their spouses?

Show threadDaniel SchumanFeb 4, 2023

Three notable things:

1/ The investigation did not really consider or thoroughly investigate the Justices as a source of the leak. It's a whitewash in that respect.

2/ The investigator has done work for the Supreme Court before and could not be considered independent by any stretch.

3/ Recommendations of establishing legal penalties for leaking are inapt considering that even the most basic ethical rules don't apply to the justices.

Show threadWndlBFeb 5, 2023
@danielschuman I’ve watched The Americans, and know how to do dead drops…
Show threadMeecheFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman Ginni Thomas is a threat to our democracy
Show threadlolonurseFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman
I wonder when their emails and laptops will be confiscated for evaluation. Do we demand they step down.... or impeach them??
Show threadDaniel SchumanFeb 4, 2023

@lolonurse They looked at the printer logs, which apparently didn't log much.

The investigation was designed as a whitewash and shouldn't be taken seriously. More importantly, the problems with the court are not that an opinion leaked early, but that they reached an unconstitutional conclusion.

Show threadBryan RubyFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman @lolonurse This is the issue with "executive privilege" and long-time staffers either not empowered or unwilling to enforce rules, laws, and good practice. Everybody below obligated to follow the rules but those on top not being held accountable to follow the same rules.
Show threadlolonurseFeb 4, 2023
@bryanruby @danielschuman
Not exactly. The GQP made a HUGE stink about HRC's emails, using her personal account. But the Rethugnicans truly are protecting their private witch hunt panel in the ultimate court. Time for some clearer rules about the SCOTUS.
Show threadlolonurseFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman
I feel like we are living Ideocracy, and heading for The Postman. It's hard to believe all this stuff is real, & that someone isn't going to suddenly pop up and say "Gotcha!! 😂🤣"....... 🤯
Show threadEric LelandFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman So the guy who led the SCOTUS accidental transparency investigation had a personal & professional stake in the outcome looking good for himself.
Show threadDon HollowayFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman so the answer to "who leaked?" is "probably everyone".
Show threadstephen judkinsFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman woah, I can't believe you are maligning this hallowed and apolitical institution like this. Have some respect
Show threadThomas H Jones IIFeb 4, 2023

@stephenjudkins @danielschuman

Sarcasm often doesn't translate well in the written word.

...Sometimes, I feel like people need sarcasm alt-tags.

Show threadmarkFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman I will choose to believe that this is a distraction with behavioral process problems so we stop asking why the investigation into the leak wasn't actually an investigation
Show threadLenocFeb 4, 2023

@danielschuman

Maybe we need to start selecting judges on overall job competency, rather than what Society they belong to.

Show threadmarktaylorFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman If the US Supreme Court are above the law, and behave in ways to keep them there, we have a constitutional crisis. @mehdihasan @CNN
Show threadZepFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman Didn't even need to know how they handle secret docs to call the Alito court a dumpster fire
Show threadLoueeFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman their pretense of being high and mighty straight shooters is going bust. The wingnut justices are a gaggle of lying cheating bums.
Show threadPJROFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman Luckily the Supreme Court does not handle documents that are classified for national security reasons. SCOTUS keeps "secrets" for much the same reasons that you or I do.
Show threadHalcekFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman What's meant by 'burn bags'? Trash? 😆
Show threadDaniel SchumanFeb 4, 2023
@halcek A burn bag is a bag for materials that are confidential/sensitive/classified that are segregated from the normal waste stream and destroyed, such as by shredding or burning.
Show threadSocialistStanFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman Ignore them, they're a bunch of boomers in a room
Show threadDiamond JoyFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman The point we have reached is truly pathetic. SCOTUS nominees: 20 years of taxes returns, sodium thiopental and polygraph during testimony. It is unbearable.
Show threadThomas H Jones IIFeb 4, 2023

@danielschuman

"Staff afraid to confront justices/senators/congressmen/POTUS/etc. on bad security practices" is the norm for government and even industry.

Show threadSasha StrangeFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman Ever increasing billions are spent on defense every year, and yet we're seeing how wide-spread lax security and document control have been and largely still are.
Show threadCarl MalamudFeb 4, 2023
@danielschuman lol. 'The justices were “not masters of information security protocol,” one former court employee told CNN.'
Show threadDaniel SchumanFeb 5, 2023
@carlmalamud One would think that a judicious approach would be to find security experts who could help them. But I guess they're not fans of advisory opinions.
Show threadKGFeb 5, 2023
@danielschuman in fairness, this is how probably 85% of law firms function as well, so not entirely surprising, really
Show threadRyan ParmanFeb 6, 2023

@danielschuman @donmelton:

We are in a war RIGHT NOW and we are losing.

Show threadWilliam HeroldFeb 6, 2023
@danielschuman in retrospect, "lifetime appointment" may not be a best practice for any field.
Show threadDaniel SchumanFeb 6, 2023
@willigula I'm okay with father or mother and may someday be okay with grandparent.