General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How do SCOTUS Justices ever get removed? n/t [View all]stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)Right now SCOTUS is immune to even the Federal Judicial rules of ethics and behavior. They have no body of rules
constraining their behavior. Even if one of them got disbarred, they could remain on the Supreme Court.
Maybe if they were accused of a major crime & sent to prison, the fact that they couldn't show up for work might put them out. But current evidence of the rightest 4's imperviousness to public opinion or common decency promise that those justices would still fight tooth and nail to stay on SCOTUS.
This lack of prosecutable judicial ethics for SCOTUS has come up most often re:Clarence Thomas. Witnesses have surfaced over the years confirming Anita hill's charges so he both violated the law & gained SCOTUS by lying. Thomas is also probably the most personally enriched by the KOCH BROS & billionaire minions, including accepting lavish gifts & funding for Museum/Foundation to his Mother in GA. He also signed felonious (under clear penalty of perjury stated right on the form) SCOTUS/IRS annual income statement for many years. Finally his "household" income soared using his judicial insider trader
knowledge to enrich his wife's "LIBERTY/FREEDOM" RWNJ Slushfund months prior to public announcement of CITIZENS UNITED decision. There are also no enforceable SCPTUS recusal rules, a principle Thomas more than anyone has ignored.
If there's ever a Dem majority in the House and the Senate again, first order would be to make the Federal Judicial rules apply to SCOTUS. ( Second on my "If Ever" wish list would be to grant Wash DC fair representation in the Senate and House instead of its residents' impotence now. Third would be to have national elections determined by popular vote. And fourth Overturn Citizen's United.) Just those four immediate actions could do wonders for restoring our democracy.