Billionaire-Backed Conservative Legal Groups Are Paying for Judges’ Luxury Vacations

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Foiled again! Damn you, money!

Daft_ish

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Money doesn't bribe judges people bribe judges

Just doing the ol conservative loop-d-loo

Zombiepirate

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givesomefucks

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A low level government employee would loss their job if someone takes them out to a nice dinner.

We don't need to make it illegal, it already is.

We need to start enforcing the rules across the board.

banneryear1868

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If I accept "gifts" above a very small amount it's a big deal. With inflation it got to the point we could barely have meals or celebrations with vendors when major projects were completed. Private sector is rife with this behavior though, corporate boxes at sporting venues etc. and the schmoozing.

conditional_soup

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Illegal for the people doing and taking the bribe, with real teeth.

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The thing is- at least with SCOTUS justices- we can make absolutely anything illegal regarding them and they can just turn around and say, "fuck you, what are you going to do about it?" And the rest of the government says, "uh... nothing I guess?"

Th4tGuyII

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Genuinely how is this not considered illegal in the US?
If you tried this in most parts of Europe you'd be charged for committing bribery

Supervisor194

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The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that corporations are people and money is free speech.

We have become what Benjamin Franklin feared we would become. He could see the future:

“In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”

banneryear1868

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The founders feared political factions forming above all and basically designed the government around not allowing factions to take absolute power, like separating the presidential office from the executive branch etc. and not even making the position clear. Presidents have basically pushed on the limits and defined the office over the years and political factions formed around economic interests of the people because of course they would. At first you basically needed a minimum amount of worked land to even vote in most states, men's suffrage happened long before women's. America was basically designed as a free real estate project and sort of still is.

greenskye

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Pretty sure the founders kind of assumed we'd have a couple of revolutions by now

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when the people shall have become so corrupted as to need a despotic government.

See that’s interesting. Franklin’s talking about society getting fucked up and naturally spawning a bad government above itself as a necessary part of its own structure.

It’s not just that people get corrupt and form a despotic government, it’s that the world getting fucked up means despots are more likely to be liked and desired by people seeking safety from the corruption around them.

treefrog

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It's illegal.

Enforceable is the issue here because the people being bribed are the same ones that would ultimately decide any criminal appeals and they, themselves, have no accountability or oversight.

Blackbeard

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Who knew the American empire rested entirely on the concept of shame. Take it away, and there's literally nothing left to keep the corrupt from burning the whole experiment to the ground.

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Or cultivate healthy emotions, and build the thing back into integrity again.

Saying that our system collapses when a sense of honor collapses isn’t the worst criticism. I’m not sure that a system that could survive most people being awful would be worth living in.

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And guess what Trump and his MAGA army proudly lack?

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So the courts are illegitimate. Got it.

RagingRobot

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What do we do about it

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I’ll tell you what we do. We turn all of Sunnyvale into an all-inclusive resort and casino, we charge at the door, and we all the liquor and free dope you want. Then we get those judge cocksuckers to come out and party with us so they think we’re cool, and we can pass any laws we want.

It’ll fuckin work, I know it will boys. We just gotta come together and make er happen, like in the old days.

hips_and_nips

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It’s not rocket appliances.

Pratai

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Nothing. As usual.

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It's simple: stop going to court, paying taxes or supporting them in any way. Band together with like-minded people under new collectively agreed upon laws you actually will follow. Train yourselves to fight for when the thugs of the old system inevitably do come at your door. Buy land and set up intentional communities, and start putting money toward buying land in the former counties to regain control. Bribe officials in the old counties to facilitate this.

That's the bare minimum of what we should be doing right now, honestly. The bare, bare minimum.

Really we should be banding together and overthrowing those old governments.

reverendsteveii

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you're kinda underestimating the power of organized, state sanctioned violence.

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You're underestimating the ability for people to organize and fight off tyrannical governments. It's literally how the U.S. became a country at all.

Have more faith in yourself and stop being a coward.

Cuttlefish1111

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Yea just stop paying taxes guys… duh

Pratai

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It has always been this way.

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And have been since at least Dred Scott.

AllonzeeLV

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The framers COMPLETELY dropped the ball on checks on the judicial.

We need a new constitution. This one was designed for information at the speed of horse, a population less than 2% the size of today's, and sets too high a bar to change the status quo. It might have been the most flexible governmental framework of its time, but that was a quarter millennium ago, before the first mass produced revolver was a twinkle in colt's eye btw.

I think most of the framers would be shocked and not necessarily pleased that we haven't by now. Then again, some of them would be upset that women and minorities can vote, so maybe their opinion wouldn't mean much.

banneryear1868

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It was basically designed around nobody having enough power to do anything that would affect landowners, or doing much in general. I think the founders would be shocked at the political factions they feared so much and considered the country a failed project. They didn't see a reason for anyone to vote that didn't hold arable land etc. Kicked the can on slavery as far down the road as they could to avoid the inevitable confrontation. Handed power back to the planters during reconstruction. Beat down any opportunity for collective public action.

Evilcoleslaw

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To be fair they dropped the ball completely on the whole of the judiciary. They said "Okay there's a Supreme Court, and it'll have at least a Chief Justice... Congress can decide how many others there are, but they serve for life. And Congress can determine how it works otherwise. There should probably be some lower courts and stuff but Congress can figure that out later."

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We’re tired, we’ve been here for god knows how long, and I haven’t been laid since I left the farm. Let’s wrap this up and let the first congress handle it. Besides, I’m wasted by this point.

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and I haven’t been laid since I left the farm.

If the rest of them were anything like Franklin (and I guarantee there were more like Franklin than Adams), they probably had gotten laid a lot more since leaving the farm.

ApostleO

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I used to imagine, "What would a new constitution look like if we actually invoked the clause to hold another constitutional convention?"

But imagine if we voted to hold one now, when billionaires hold so much power already. I all but guarantee that they'd make sure they had control over a majority of the delegates, and we'd end up with something that was somehow even worse than what we have today.

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Before we can even have a talk of a new government, we have to get rid of the villains destroying every government from the inside.

And that will cause a power vacuum sociopaths will use to take over. It already happened to Russia.