Ambidextrous Economics

The recent uncovering of stories of gifts from Republican donors showered upon Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, and the Justices' non-disclosure of those gifts and luxury vacations and private jet excursions are well documented. And while there is a great deal of impetus among politicians to create a moral or ethical code for the SCOTUS Justices, there is not enough movement toward impeaching these crooked judges for their agency problems.

If lying under oath in their Senate Confirmations wasn’t enough of a red flag, these recent stories of undisclosed gifts that put their personal interests above that of their sworn position in the United States government are disqualifying. Not because they are morally wrong. Not because they are ethically wrong. But because they are illegal. They have made a joke out of the notion of impartial jurisprudence and turned our justice system a mere exposition of verbal gymnastics.

When a system grants a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land and leave that same institution shrouded in secrecy, there’s no surprise that there is corruption. The systemic flaw in the Roberts Court is evident in agency costs that outweigh any benefits that might come from such lifetime appointment. It is time to impeach the perjuring and freewheeling justices who have put their own personal interests above that of their appointed oaths to defend the Constitution.

Since Justices Alito and Thomas are clearly on the take, and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett so casually lied under oath, it’s important to see what makes their transgressions so odious. Justice Alito took on the case of a Republican donor and chose to not report those obvious conflicts of interest on his financial statement or recuse himself from the case given the obvious entanglements those gifts and his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.

Someone paid off Justice Kavanaugh’s massive credit card debt and covered his opulent golf course private membership but who paid it was never disclosed. He’s been accused of sexual assault, and it’s not much of a stretch of the imagination to see that he also lied under oath.

Clarence Thomas practically made himself the beneficiary of expensive gifts to be his raison d’etre while sitting quiet during the Court’s proceedings, lying on his financial disclosures, and failing to recuse himself from conflicts of interests. His wife organized the ground forces behind the January 6, 2021 attack on the Congress and provided material support to the attempt to overturn the 2020 election. These aren’t conflated accusations. These are facts.

The only remedy that makes sense is the Congress needs to impeach these justices and revisit the notion of whether lifetime appointments make sense. The Court should be extended to 13 Justices, one for each district, and that shouldn’t even seem controversial at this point.

There’s a history here. When established precedents are walked back with the use of circular logic to shift political power in the interests of nine “impartial” jurists, then it no longer makes sense to keep stitching time to save nine. Nothing less than the preservation of the order of rule of law is at stake.

☞ AE ☜ — 6.21.2023

The Ambidextrous Economist solemnly swears. A lot.