Jim Hillhouse
Robert ReichOnce again, I just want to say that lavish gifts to Supreme Court justices shouldn’t just be “disclosed.” They should be banned, outright. This should not be a radical position.
addhum@rbreich I used to campaign on this in British Columbia. Gifts to electeds were "disclosed." Premier Clark would do a luncheon at the Petroleum Club in Calgary and raise $1M. Then six oil pipelines got approved in BC. Now gifts are capped at $1200/natural person/year, and only one pipeline got through. Keep up the good fight!
Just Tom... 🐁@rbreich - I can only speak from a UK GP position, but here gifts from pharmaceutical companies (that might be seen as an inducement) are limited to £6. GPs are not permitted to accept personal cash gifts of any amount other than genuine professional fees. GPs and individual members of staff may retain personal non-cash gifts made by patients which are of a trivial nature (with a guide value up to £25.00). Lavish gifts are corrupt and ought to be illegal.
Mrinappropriate@tompearce49 @rbreich All well and good, but paid for 4&5 star hotel accommodation whilst attending “ medical conferences “ = marketing of the latest wonder drug which replaces a much cheaper industry standard, are fine? It happens. Constantly. Self reporting does not work. We cannot trust GPS not to give in to patient pressure for inappropriate antibiotics, so why trust them to report this?
Professor_StevensMost government employees, at the state and federal levels, have statutory limits on gifts. These are tied to the relationship with the giver: you can't take a big gift from a lobbyist, contractor, subordinate, etc.
Given the immense power justices have, those limits should simply apply to everyone outside family. No one else should be allowed to give a gift worth more than a few dollars to a justice.
Bc Clarity Carlton-Martin@rbreich Funny how Berkeley has a radical label. It is quite conservative over all an Alpha haven of the Left coast. #OvertonOvertime
Niels Moseley
U.Lancier
Steve's Place@rbreich If I had my way, all elected federal officials would work for the minimum wage they themselves set, and earn not one penny more during their terms. They'd be banned from employment in any corporation lobbying Congress for 5 years after leaving office. Divestment into a common fund. Profits to the general fund. Losses from their divestment.
We must love corruption in government. We've left the door open, all of our money on the kitchen table & let people our plunderers bribe judge us.
Grumble@rbreich SCOTUS can decide cases however they like. But when they make decisions out of step with society as a whole, they undermine the entire system, losing public respect and paving the way to mob violence.
A Hotdog@rbreich Thomas says in reply, “yeah the deeply rooted history of me having no one who can stop me says that I do what I want.”
PirateRo@rbreich they should be impeached.
Biden must expand the court.
Trump's Stubby Chubby@rbreich My six little Supreme Billionaire Stooges are at it again. What a beautiful Supreme Court that I filled with the most brilliant legal minds.
What is wrong with giving money to an over-worked and underappreciated government employee? Everybody does it, and no one cares.
Michael Gurski@rbreich if I can't even buy lunch for my civil servant coworker, I don't see how anyone could think gifts like that are normal or allowed.
The Doctor
WagesOf@rbreich they are banned and illegal. The fact that the Supreme Court disagrees with what words mean and claims they're not subject to the same laws as other federal judges are is an impeachable offense.
Congress must impeach, remove from office and procecute.
Stop normalizing the idea that they are above the law.
Ariaflame
floydgump@rbreich The evils of greed has made everything even the smallest act of kindness a radical act.
TAI@rbreich I think your description of this activity contributes to the problem. Describing buying judges as giving gifts is weak at best. It's the blatant purchase and ownership of a Supreme court judge This is far more than unethical, it is simply criminal and you are afraid to call it what it is. I really, really don't think there is anything noble about what you do, you constantly condition people to believe criminality is just unethical, backhanded watering down egregious corruption, slick
@rbreich SCOTUS is corrupt. They are unfit, unethical, immoral, and bigoted. EXPAND THE COURT. Or impeach the bastards like Thomas and Alito.
europlus 
@rbreich @brouhaha as a lowly strata manager in NSW, Australia, I’ve had bosses require me to disclose cups of coffee suppliers bought me.
Our legislation explicitly says we have to disclose to our clients every year certain benefits and commissions we receive.
A recent high-profile case of not disclosing very high commissions and secret deals will possibly see the company involved lose their license, and certainly they have suffered severe reputational damage.
And we’re just strata managers!
TopKnotThe US Military had a limit of $20 total value of gifts from working associates. The SCOTUS has no limits, I guess. Makes sense because soldiers were protecting us from falling into a fascist state and billionaires are for protecting people who would make them more $billions.
Bandersnatch@rbreich Thomas should be in prison.
Big Head Tales@rbreich
We shouldn’t be at all surprised given they just rules that “gratuities” given after the fact aren’t considered bribes and are not illegal anymore.
We shouldn’t be at all surprised given they just rules that “gratuities” given after the fact aren’t considered bribes and are not illegal anymore.
a1@rbreich why isn’t the IRS taking the corrupt judges out of the game
Forgotten Hero@rbreich
Many years ago I realized that if the #Mafia ever designed a political system it would look EXACTLY like the US.
Judges for life, easily bought.
Elected Police Chiefs, easily bought.
Electoral colleges, easily bought. etc.
It did not affect most folk too much, life had to go on in order to skim the cream from the top. But now Russia had outbid the Mafia they WANT the system to collapse.