The bot replied:
Justice Samuel Alito has been accused of ethical lapses by top Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary Committees1. However, the Supreme Court legal counsel said there is no evidence that Justice Samuel Alito violated ethics standards2. After reporting from investigative news outlet ProPublica revealed undisclosed financial gifts given to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito from a billionaire, Alito responded with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal denying he was out of compliance with ethical standards3.
Hobnobbing with big money, Alito caught a fish. Read ALL about it.
Can you say, "Assholes," the plural form of the word (Leonard Leo fingerprints are all over it, so the word unquestionably applies, perhaps not if your opinion of Leonard Leo and/or Samuel Alito differs).
Shoes already are dropping.
Specificity a very reasonable effort in calling upon Alito to recuse in the future is already afoot. Read that linked letter, sent to that man.
That effort has about as much chance to get a recusal from the SOB as that fish in Alito's hands in that opening MinnPost image has of future spawning.
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But wait. There's more.
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BOTTOM LINE: In the ProPublica report reprinted by MinnPost as linked earlier, there is this -
In his statement, Leo did not address detailed questions about the trip, but he said “no objective and well-informed observer of the judiciary honestly could believe that they decide cases in order to cull favor with friends, or in return for a free plane seat or fishing trip.”
Or as payback in return for a Leonard Leo grooming before a nomination, or affiliated operation spending millions to promote a nomination?
Well, Crabgrass readers are urged to think that over, each being objective, well-informed and reasonable, and form an opinion consonant with the opinion of Knight of Malta Leonard Leo, or not.
Reader opinions of Alito may range from "able jurist, a beacon of insight," to "you could bribe that bastard with a ham sandwich, were you a billionaire," or even, "emerged from a sewer to meet W's criteria."
It is great that you have free speech, and freedom of opinion, just as billionaire's paying for lax jurists' junkets have. You are equally free to spend a bundle schmoozing Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, whoever.
It's the American Way.
________UPDATE_______
A quote from one of the two already cited Guardian reports:
In 2005, George W Bush nominated Harriet Miers, his deputy chief of staff, for a vacant seat on the supreme court. She was widely regarded as a weak candidate in any case, but when conservatives turned on her, and Miers withdrew, Leo saw to it that she was replaced by a figure far more acceptable to the right and opponents of abortion, Samuel Alito.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the most outspoken critics of dark money’s influence on politics, told the Guardian earlier this year that was a turning point.
“It was at that point that the grip of this little donor elite and Leo, its Federalist Society operative, really took hold. Justice Samuel Alito was the product of that and he has proven himself on the court as being a faithful workhorse for that dark money corporate rightwing crew,” he said.
Faithful workhorse. End of story.
________FURTHER UPDATE________
To clarify, this post has two themes, getting there, and remembering who, as a social class, your friends are.
The base line is the getting there; Leonard Leo being key. He is a Gate Keeper, to heaven - the Conservatives' clique's St. Peter.
The junkets, particularly Leo's role in Alito and the big fish, is the reminder to stay loyal. The showing that perks flow to those loyal. It being an ancillary loyalty deal to never recuse. No matter the stench.
It needs no written contract. It is among gentlemen. Like-minded gentlemen, who individually understand things to a fault. Conscious parallelism in oligopoly jurisprudence?
I believe it was Mike Royko who phrased it, perhaps having learned of it phrased to him by a Daly Democrat, "In Chicago, the crooked politician is the one who will not stay bought."
Two links, here and here. About getting there via tested like-mindedness. Follow-up junkets and real estate perks ice the cake.