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Conduct Becoming
Author: Raine    Date: 10/02/2023 12:23:26

With the Government shutdown temporarily avoided for about 6 weeks, I am turning my eyes on the SCOTUS's new term starting this week.

Here are some of the significant issues they'll be ruling on. One issue they won't be dealing with? Ethics. Over the weekend, ProPublica had a formal interview with President Biden. He commented about ethics and SCOTUS.
When asked the question directly, Biden paused for a few seconds. Then he sighed and said, “I worry.”

“Because,” he said, “I know that if the other team, the MAGA Republicans, win, they don’t want to uphold the rule of law.”

But he said, “I do think at the end of the day, this court, which has been one of the most extreme courts, I still think in the basic fundamentals of rule of law, that they would sustain the rule of law.”

Still, Biden said the court itself should recognize it needs ethics rules after stories by ProPublica revealed that billionaires had given undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court justices and that Justice Clarence Thomas has made appearances at events for donors to the Koch political network. The code of conduct that applies to other federal judges doesn’t apply to the Supreme Court. “The idea that the Constitution would in any way prohibit or not encourage the court to have basic rules of ethics that are just on their face reasonable,” Biden said, “is just not the case.”
Personally, the answer to that is, in my opinion, to expand the court to match the number of federal district courts. Biden has pushed back on that idea. The conservative majority of the court cannot be trusted to be ethical. It's a sad state of affairs for civil service in this country.

Over in the private sector - specifically cable news - there is a glimmer of hope. Alicia Menendez, host of American Voices on MSNBC said she won't cover Senator Bob Menendez's indictments. Why?

He's her father.
“Last week, a grand jury indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez. This past week, dozens of members of his own party have demanded his resignation,” said the MSNBC anchor on her “American Voices” program. “I have been watching, along with all of you, as a citizen and also as his daughter. I will not be reporting on the legal case.”

She then pointed to her own network’s reporting as she spoke just over one week after her father was indicted on corruption charges.

“That said, my colleagues across MSNBC and NBC News, they have aggressively covered the story and they’ll continue to do so, as they should,” the anchor added.
Unlike Chris Cuomo who was fired at CNN, she's handling this properly.

SCOTUS could learn from her. Instead, they chose the route that got a journalist fired. When cable news outlets have a better code of conduct than a taxpayer-funded court does, it says an awful lot.

&
Raine

 
 

5 comments (Latest Comment: 10/02/2023 14:15:35 by Raine)
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