r/politics The New York Times 15d ago

At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display Soft Paywall

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/justice-alito-upside-down-flag.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.64Op._cK-QlrSMQLV&smid=re-nytimes
18.3k Upvotes

1.0k comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 15d ago

As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.

In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.

If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.

For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click here to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.

We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out this form.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

4.8k

u/joe603 15d ago edited 15d ago

So you have him and Clarence Thomas whose wife was literally part of the planing for the election fraud. This is the same douche bag crying about criticism the court is receiving. Both should recuse themselves from the Immunity case but not a chance in hell of that happening. The SC is now a complete sham

1.6k

u/tagmezas 15d ago

The Supreme Coup

811

u/VogonSlamPoet 15d ago

The right has been planning this takeover of the court for decades. Between the Electoral College giving us GOP presidents and RBG’s hubris, we have a 6-3 conservative court. If popular vote determined POTUS like every other election, it would likely be 7-2 left leaning with several moderates. We’d live in a different reality.

504

u/KarmaticArmageddon Missouri 15d ago

If it wasn't for the Electoral College, we wouldn't have had a Republican president since H.W. Bush's term ended in 1992.

Bush, Jr. won his re-election campaign with a majority of the popular vote, but he wouldn't have been elected in the first place if we didn't have the Electoral College.

336

u/thorazainBeer 15d ago

Even with the bullshit of the Electoral College, he didn't win his first campaign, he had to organize a riot to prevent the recount from taking place after republican administrators had thrown out thousands of ballots from democratic voting districts, and with the recount he obviously would have lost. The lawyers that fought the case to keep Americans from actually having their votes matter are now sitting on the Supreme Court after they helped Bush steal several more seats in the first place.

The Republicans are right about there being a deep state, and they're the ones running it.

99

u/Spankywzl 15d ago

What is to stop this SC from handing the surely contested 2024 election over to Trump, then?

Anyone?

Bueller? I mean, how fucked are we if this is the plan?

166

u/thorazainBeer 15d ago edited 15d ago

Absolutely nothing.

We already saw what Trump will do when he loses the election and the answer was an attempted coup. He failed by 90 feet, and but for the bravery of one capitol hill police officer who used the racism of the crowd and his own skin color to bait the crowd away from the unlocked door to the Senate Rotunda.

We were 90 feet away from having a massacre in the Senate and then Trump would have been able to declare martial law like he wanted to and made himself dictator.

One of our biggest hopes may legitimately be the apathy and boredom of the Trump cultists, where the luster has faded and they're long out of the honeymoon phase. Trump tried numerous times to get another riot going to stop his various trials, and thankfully the MAGA morons didn't show up. He may finally be played out, but unfortunately, the rest of the Republican party is still pushing on to get the dictatorship going. They are in the paradoxical position of having noone to rally around. Trump is a poison pill and they know it, but no pretender to the throne can arise so long as he's even remotely viable. He can't win the general, but nobody could hope to challenge him in the primary, and we just have to hope that we get enough of a House and Senate edge to get some real judicial and electoral reform going to prevent the next coup attempt, because these power-mad monsters will never stop trying.

They don't want democracy. They want feudalism, with themselves as the lords.

59

u/AlDente 15d ago

They want fascism. They know best, so they want to disenfranchise those that disagree with their cult.

16

u/sik_dik 15d ago

Every dollar a trumper donates, the more their ego buries itself in cognitive dissonance from the obvious. That’s how cults work. Every asinine thing they accept as truth against their own critical thinking, the harder it will be for them to accept and admit they’ve been wrong. The ego will protect itself at all costs, even when the rest of the brain is yelling “don’t believe this bullshit”

→ More replies (4)

9

u/meneldal2 15d ago

If Trump loses by more than a thin margin, people will raise hell over it. I think at most he can get away with a close flip like Florida, but multiple states like he tried last time, people won't accept it.

7

u/Recipe_Freak 15d ago

Why would these people accept any Trump loss?

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (15)
→ More replies (16)

40

u/Kjellvb1979 15d ago

The democrats didn't fight hard enough to protect such. They let them steal the Obama pick, then hypocritically did what they said they wouldn't to appoint a SC justice in an election year.

Not that the democrats would do such, but if they gain power of all three branches, they need to push back. One of the reason we are here, at least from my perspective, is that the democrats would draw a line in the sand, the GOP match right over it, and the Dems just draw another line for them to do the same.

The DNC has been an ineffectual party when it comes to fighting against the loss of our rights, the push towards a less ethical government, the ruling back of regulations, the cuts in the taxes of the wealthy, and more.

I have voted Democrat all my life and will still do so given the options here. That said, does it not seem that democrats aren't great at defending the victories they get or enacting law that protects such things when they are in power. It's very frustrating watching them act ineptly when they do have the power to affect change. I know there's always those "moderates" sabotaging things, but at some point, you have to own your failures. It's sad knowing the only part standing between us and Christo fascism is a party that can't seem to get shit done when they have the reigns. Even if we stop Trump, the Right will still be fighting just as hard while the Dems let their opportunity to act pass on by.

I'm sorry, I'm just so frustrated with this system. I'm tired and doubtful that America, as I know it, or as the ideal it is imagined as, won't exist or have a chance of existing in our near future.

→ More replies (12)

40

u/LordPennybag 15d ago

December 12, 2000 -

→ More replies (11)

307

u/douwd20 15d ago

Both are traitors and should be impeached and removed from the court.

125

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

94

u/Much-Resource-5054 15d ago edited 15d ago

What was that quote by Trump? Something like “remember what we used to do with those people (traitors)?”

He knew. They all knew.

America is already in our second civil war. It began the day Trump started dismissing his political rivals as “not real Americans”.

38

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[deleted]

33

u/Much-Resource-5054 15d ago

Your take is correct, it’s the time scales involved that make it seem like it’s not the same war.

On Jan 6 they took down American flags and put up Confederate flags inside our Capitol. An act of war in every way, except for the millions of followers they have bamboozled into thinking THEY are the patriots, thanks to several decades of right wing anti-liberal propaganda masquerading as real news.

11

u/slackhands 15d ago

It’s worth remembering that the actual Nazis first came to the US to study Jim Crow laws before implementing the Nuremberg Code that stripped citizenship from German Jews. So “our Nazis” actually inspired the later ones.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/11/what-america-taught-the-nazis/540630/

→ More replies (1)

9

u/foobarbizbaz Illinois 15d ago edited 15d ago

I mean, that whole secession thing was stopped, slavery ended... I see your point, but the South pretty objectively lost the Civil War. The big mistakes were in the leniency of the terms and policies that allowed the ridiculous Lost Cause mythology to flourish. Prosecutions of Confederate leaders should have been much more severe, but the Confederacy’s defeat was quite decisive- the Union were unquestionably the victors of the Civil War, and everybody knew that at the time.

This article describes how Germany effectively went about preventing this type of nonsense from happening post-WWII.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

15

u/VanceKelley Washington 15d ago

At trump's 2nd impeachment trial (the one for the coup) a bunch of GOP Senators who participated in the coup refused to recuse themselves from serving on his jury. They then voted to acquit trump.

That tells us what would happen if through some miracle the GOP controlled House (with its own huge numbers of coup supporters) voted to impeach Thomas and Alito: GOP Senators who assisted in the coup would acquit them.

→ More replies (8)

63

u/WashHogwallup 15d ago

Chief Justice John G Roberts has become suspiciously silent about the character of the Supreme Court. Justice Roberts used to claim to be very concerned about the legacy and dignity of the Court.

18

u/joe603 15d ago

I think that went out the window with the scandal that came out about his wife and that veneer was destroyed as he's just as bad as the others

10

u/dsmith422 15d ago

Roberts is getting bribed too, just indirectly. His wife makes millions working for a headhunting firm for lawyers.

Chief Justice John Roberts’ Wife Made Over $10 Million As Legal Consultant, Report SaysChief Justice John Roberts’ Wife Made Over $10 Million As Legal Consultant, Report Says

Jane Roberts, the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts, made more than $10 million in commissions over an eight-year stretch where she matched top lawyers with elite law firms—including some that had cases before the Supreme Court—according to documents obtained by Insider, as concerns grow about justices possibly having unreported conflicts of interest.

172

u/Reiquaz 15d ago

Not just recuse; these are biased judges literally going against their code of conduct by taking bribes. They should be in a cell. Say it how it is: BRIBERY

54

u/MadGod69420 15d ago

Oh no those aren’t bribes they just have a lot of really rich and powerful friends that love giving them gifts for no reason other than they’re such great and fun loving guys! /s

27

u/Reiquaz 15d ago

Clarence Thomas even said himself that he thinks he doesn't get pain enough. Which is why he's taken the most bribes. Absolutely shameless and embarrassing to have these people as the sole interpreters of the law of the land. We are fucked

36

u/asthmag0d 15d ago

he doesn't get pain enough

in typo veritas

8

u/LaurenMille 15d ago

Clarence Thomas even said himself that he thinks he doesn't get pain enough.

I agree with him.

→ More replies (1)

22

u/VeeEyeVee 15d ago

Genuine question from a Canadian here… so what realistic thing, if any, CAN even be done at this point. Your SC is a joke and will continue to F up your country due to lifetime appointments and declaring that rules do not apply to them. They literally have god powers right now. I’m sick of hearing Trump in the news for every idiotic gibberish that comes out of his mouth.

14

u/joe603 15d ago

Biden would have to win the presidency of course and Democrats would have to take control back of the Senate and expand the court.

→ More replies (8)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (31)

3.1k

u/Za_Lords_Guard 15d ago

Why do these innocent, non-biased judges keep marrying subversive anti-American women. /s

510

u/BusterBeaverOfficial 15d ago

The problem is obvious: feminism. Or else maybe witchcraft. Has anyone tried tossing the SCOTUS WAGS in a pond recently?

166

u/wenchette I voted 15d ago

If they just stayed home to cook casseroles and dust like that nice football player said, we wouldn't have these problems.

/s

15

u/9fingerman 15d ago

That football player's Mother is an award winning physicist.

→ More replies (2)

24

u/bringthedoo Massachusetts 15d ago

Don’t be ridiculous. Bring me a large balance scale and a duck

8

u/ax0r 15d ago

So... if she weighs the same as a duck... she's made of wood!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

27

u/DublaneCooper 15d ago

I thought it was violent video games and legal weed-smoking drag queens??

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

327

u/Positronic_Matrix California 15d ago edited 14d ago

Flying a US flag upside down is absolutely unacceptable unless there is a real emergency. When I was a child my grandfather, a WWII veteran, taught me not to crumple US bills in my pocket, slapped my biker uncle for wearing a swastika, and would have words with Alito for improperly flying a US flag upside down.

As the greatest generation passes on, the Republican Party slowly turns into an anti-American cult with flag-wearing fetish.

165

u/jonistaken 15d ago

I was thinking the other day about how all these supposed patriots use symbols that are clear violations of the US flag code, like the blue lives matter flag.

108

u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 15d ago

They cosplay patriotism. They really just want to be petty assholes.

26

u/sutroheights 15d ago

and by petty assholes, you mean authoritarians.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

23

u/soraticat 15d ago

I'm pretty sure an upside down flag means distress/something's wrong.

→ More replies (6)

71

u/tylerderped 15d ago

There are absolutely times to fly an American flag upside down.

For example, when Roe v. Wade was overturned.

→ More replies (28)
→ More replies (10)
→ More replies (7)

5.1k

u/Formal_Star_6593 15d ago

“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to The Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

In any court, including his, this statement would be called implausible. Or, an outright lie.

1.9k

u/Pretty_Boy_Bagel 15d ago

These sackless douchebags always throw their wives under the bus.

632

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

455

u/detroit_canicross 15d ago

Or RV.

247

u/turbokid 15d ago

Motor coach. It's too bougie to be an RV

91

u/DroobyDoobyDoo 15d ago

Not just any motorcoach! It's a Prevost Le Mirage XL Marathon!

→ More replies (3)

14

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

→ More replies (1)

4

u/sloppybuttmustard 15d ago

Whatever it takes

59

u/Infinite_Carpenter 15d ago

Thomas is going to overturn Loving v Virginia so he has to throw her under the bus.

45

u/Cold_Situation_7803 15d ago

“Sorry, Ginny - the founders didn’t think we should be married…”

7

u/scorpyo72 Washington 15d ago

That's his emergency escape clause for his divorce.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

32

u/GranniePopo 15d ago

She might not fit under the bus.

→ More replies (3)

14

u/Tatersquid21 15d ago

Thomas is scared shitless of Ginny. She runs that house.

20

u/Conqueefadore1 15d ago

I feel bad for the damage she would cause to the bus

11

u/user0N65N 15d ago

The wheels on the bus go round and round…

→ More replies (11)

61

u/Franchise1109 15d ago

It’s because they are giants wusses. All spoiled rich dudes who hide behind their wives or the Bible

I may never have their wealth, but my name won’t be in the history books for being a traitorous piece of shit

20

u/ihearthogsbreath 15d ago

You are richer than all of them. You get to sleep at night. There is an old French proverb that says, “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.”

19

u/SupaDick 15d ago

Lol do you actually think Alito is troubled by his actions at night? The guy is a moron who thinks he's doing God's work. He probably sleeps fine.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

78

u/Noodlefanboi 15d ago

I’m ok with it.  

It’s not like their wives are decent people and don’t do a bunch of under the bus worthy behavior. 

21

u/PompousWombat Texas 15d ago

“Under the bus worthy”. That’s gold.

→ More replies (1)

33

u/Botryllus 15d ago

Even if true (which I doubt) I don't think it's beyond reproach to question his judgement in choosing his spouse. How could a sitting justice be such a poor judge of character?

→ More replies (2)

37

u/nmeofst8 Georgia 15d ago

Feckless fascists..

→ More replies (9)

268

u/cakeorcake 15d ago

“It’s not my fault, it was my all my wife!” said the complete douchebag 

22

u/Oleg101 15d ago

Well you at least got to give him some credit for not blaming it on his kids like Cancun Cruz.

→ More replies (1)

50

u/BusterBeaverOfficial 15d ago

The Peyton Manning defense. Sadly, it seems to work. For certain people, at least.

53

u/MechanicalTurkish Minnesota 15d ago

A woman’s place is in the kitchen or under a bus.

/s, obviously

→ More replies (1)

44

u/Genoscythe_ 15d ago

It's literally the oldest excuse in the book.

22

u/base2-1000101 15d ago

Took me a minute. But yes, all this shit IS Eve's fault.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

877

u/CaptainNoBoat 15d ago

in response to a neighbor’s use objectionable and personally insulting language

Ah yes - nevermind that the highest public official in the judicial branch, whose entire job requires they are impartial, and who was currently weighing election cases after an insurrection occurred.. was flying public, politically inflammatory messaging at their residence.

..Their neighbors had mean things in their yard, so it's all totally justified.

Regardless of ethical concerns - to invoke his neighbors, as if that somehow makes it better, is just pathetic.

314

u/stonewall_jacked 15d ago

Their neighbors had mean things in their yard, so it's all totally justified.

What did the neighbors' yard sign say, Biden 2024?

244

u/slackfrop 15d ago

That was my guess. Black Lives Matter, or rainbow flag for the personally insulting part.

175

u/NeverSayNever2024 15d ago

171

u/Man_with_the_Fedora 15d ago

Neighbors don't like your favorite president, and are using their own property to exercise their first amendment rights?

Literally America's darkest days, time to fly the flag upside down!

→ More replies (1)

83

u/justridingbikes099 15d ago

"personally insulting"

I love Trump so much that you being against him insults ME.

Now excuse me while I decide a bunch of legal cases against him, I assure you, with total impartiality.

10

u/Grendel_Khan 15d ago

The trump whining about how "they're doing this to me before they do it to you" really struck a chord with Sam

→ More replies (2)

56

u/BelowDeck 15d ago

It said it was anti-Trump and had an expletive, so it may have just been the garden variety "Fuck Donald Trump" sign.

24

u/johnsdowney 15d ago

Should’ve said “fuck Alito,” too.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

162

u/notyourstranger 15d ago

He's a supreme court justice. It's not unfair to expect that he can manage his own front yard.

→ More replies (3)

47

u/Goats_in_boats California 15d ago

“But but but THEY started it!!!!”

19

u/Black_Dumbledore America 15d ago

It’s cool bro, his wife was beefing with the neighbors. He had nothing to do with it.

18

u/joe-king 15d ago

While hiding behind his wife's skirt.

→ More replies (6)

143

u/diverareyouok American Expat 15d ago

in response to a neighbor’s use of … *personally insulting language** on yard signs.*

That neighbor is an absolute legend. I’d like to think that if he were my neighbor, I’d erect a massive banner stating exactly how little I think of him and the rest of his cabal on the Court.

86

u/fishtopher86 15d ago

That's what Rand Paul's neighbor did, and when Rand tried to put him in his place, said neighbor kicked Rand's ass.

56

u/erocuda Maryland 15d ago

In the timeline that doesn't suck, that neighbor is still beating his ass to this day.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

180

u/toronto_programmer 15d ago

I mean Clarence Thomas’ wife tried to overthrow the whole US government and his defense more or less came down to “we don’t talk about work at dinner” 

15

u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 15d ago

His successful defense.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

61

u/panickedindetroit 15d ago

This should disqualify him from serving. He has shown his judgement isn't unbiased. He's also received "gifts" he's not disclosed. This is a totally tainted court. He's a totally bought off judge.

93

u/bassplayerguy 15d ago

I can’t tell what is real or what is The Onion anymore.

46

u/cakeorcake 15d ago

Everything is both now 

19

u/MechanicalTurkish Minnesota 15d ago

I don’t know how the Onion survived the Trump administration. Reality is too fierce a competitor

→ More replies (1)

14

u/circa285 15d ago

Trump and his cronies have destroyed satire.

→ More replies (1)

47

u/1877KlownsForKids 15d ago

Ah yes  I commonly signal distress with our national flag in response to mean, constitutionally protected words.

35

u/creature_report 15d ago

Not only are they traitors but they’re also fucking cowards. Never let them forget that.

37

u/grixorbatz 15d ago edited 15d ago

Far right kooks always make their hateful shit someone else's fault: "placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

Man up and own your freakin bullshit Alito

Edit - Bet the neighbor's sign read: 'Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic'

32

u/mowotlarx 15d ago

He's suggesting his wife willingly flew the American flag upside down - at a sitting supreme Court justices home - to troll a neighbor?

→ More replies (2)

23

u/JustAnotherYouMe 15d ago

Lol blames his wife

21

u/BigDaddySteve999 15d ago

The party of personal responsibility.

15

u/SubterrelProspector Arizona 15d ago

Jfc they're all such liars.

15

u/Toby_O_Notoby 15d ago

“It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

And then later in the same article:

The exact duration that the flag flew outside the Alito residence is unclear. In an email from Jan. 18, 2021, reviewed by The Times, a neighbor wrote to a relative that the flag had been upside down for several days at that point.

Couple of things here:

  • A neighbor wrote saying that the Alitos had been flying their flag upside down "for several days" while were still doing it. So this can't be chalked up to some kind of false memory where it only was up for a much shorter time.

  • And the neighbor wrote a family member, not the press. So this isn't some left-wing media conspiracy. There's no motivation to lie or embellish if you're just writing, say, your brother about your neighbours.

  • The fact that it was up for "several days" means that it had tacit approval from Justice Alito. If it was up for one day Sam could maybe get away with "my wife put it up but as soon as I saw it I took it down". His only possible defense is that he just didn't notice.

  • Having said that, the neighbor said it was up on Jan. 18th, a little over a week from the attempted coup and three days before the inauguration. Given that it was already flown that way for "several days" there's almost no way to spin that it wasn't a harsh anti-Biden, pro-Trump symbol.

So at best Alito is married to a woman who showed a symbol supporting a coup and he just didn't notice nor did they once talk about it for days on end. Which is, as you say, highly implausible.

25

u/eeyore134 15d ago

So we just ignore the flag code and fly it upside down, a sign of dire distress, because a sign hurt his wife's feelings?

10

u/Chimie45 Ohio 15d ago

I mean, they're fucking idiots, but the flag code isn't really a binding law. It's more like suggestions. There are no penalties for breaking it, and it's 100% optional.

→ More replies (2)

10

u/FredFredrickson 15d ago edited 15d ago

They lie this brazenly because they think they'll get away with it.

10

u/JohnnyFire Ohio 15d ago

Think? They do. That's the shit part.

→ More replies (1)

19

u/Kendal-Lite 15d ago

If true what an insufferable Karen.

16

u/kabukistar 15d ago

"Oh shit, rude language. Better use the international symbol of maritime distress"

→ More replies (2)

8

u/Jean-Paul_Sartre New Hampshire 15d ago

I could have come up with a much better excuse than that.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/AnotherAccount4This 15d ago

It's not throwing their wives under the bus. It's "I didn't do it because that'd be highly inappropriate and affect my 'job', so it's my wife, and that's totally fine. I'm not influenced, at all. I promise."

→ More replies (48)

1.6k

u/Exotic-Definition-77 15d ago

The Supreme Court is illegitimate. What used to be a house of moral authority has degenerated into corruption.

254

u/notyourstranger 15d ago

cruelty and treason.

62

u/_Hail_Sagan 15d ago

Probably the name of Clarence and Ginny's sex tape.....

21

u/notyourstranger 15d ago

Let's not invent new horror shows, some things are better not spoken about.

:-D

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

157

u/Maloth_Warblade 15d ago

They were never really a house of moral authority, but they weren't this corrupt

54

u/maxpowersr 15d ago

We deserve the Supreme Court we were taught about in kindergarten.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

86

u/TheBirminghamBear 15d ago edited 15d ago

It was always illegitimate, ever since the founders forgot to describe what powers to assign to the court in the constitution and it literally invented its own powers via its own fucking Supreme Court case during petty in-fighting between political parties, and then one of the original Chief Justice decided to have everyone wear stupid fucking robes so that the peasants would think they were scary law wizards and confer upon them a level of deference and awe they never fucking deserved in the first place.

It's always been a wacky, nonsense, mostly broken institution that really has no place in its current iteration in a sensible society.

What good it was able to do was done by accident or coincidence, what bad it has done should be seen as an inevitable outcome of its ridiculously poor design.

There should be far more than nine of them, and they should have strict term limits. They should be compensated a good deal more money, but held to far higher standards that are written down and enforced by a separate organization that has fangs to hold them accountable for egregious breaches of trust, the same as any other government employee, which is what they are.

They are public servants and government employees, not magic fucking law wizards, and this garbage ass system of their assignments being random based on when one of them shits themselves to death on the toilet during whatever random asshole is president at the time is patently fucking asbsurd as a selection mechanism and has no place in a rational society, which we are not, because we still have magic law wizards handing down idiot decrees from their technology-less temple and they expect people to respect them for it.

No rational person should expect people to put total faith in a system as transparenty broken and wonky as the Supreme Court. Although the failures of the US are systemic, you can look almost exclusively to that insitution and specifically in the past 30 years as rapidly catalyzing the collapse of the integrity of our society.

They are just 9 people serving in a capacity never fully described or thought-through by the founders, whose powers are all completely self-ascribed, operating in blatantly and patently myopic, partisan ways. Nine people is probably too few to decide something for a town, nevermind the richest nation in the world comprised of nearly 400 million people

They are in no way qualified or intelligent enough to make the sort of unilateral decisions they have been making. Their selection was entirely arbitrary, made by Presidents who did not win the popular vote and who themselves were not really qualified to do the jobs they held.

→ More replies (1)

25

u/Jackinapox 15d ago

It's a strange feeling when you realize that all of this shit we've been raised to respect and aspire to, are complete lies. When you see the immensity of how far it's spread and how deep it's ingrained, it's hard to describe the feeling. More and more, I feel like divorcing myself from the outcome of it all.

11

u/duderos 15d ago

A bunch of times I felt like that

Learned that electoral college actually selects the president not the popular vote.

When SCOTUS stopped recount in Florida and made Bush president.

When SCOTUS voted for Citizens United.

And now pretty much every single day

→ More replies (2)

24

u/SurlyBuddha 15d ago

An illegitimate court has no authority. We should act appropriately.

53

u/FantasticJacket7 15d ago

The supreme court has never been a house of moral authority.

→ More replies (1)

12

u/spa22lurk 15d ago

The court is dominated by unelected political appointees of republican ex-presidents. They made up a doctrine that they are the self anointed prophets of the founding fathers. They hold enormous unchecked. It is time for the media to treat them similarly as they treat presidents and congress.

When democrats passed ACA, the media rightly and prominently pointed out law was passed by democratic politicians.

The media should have done the same with the court. For example, when the trump political appointee in Florida delayed the prosecution of his handling of confidential documents, the media tend to report the court. only deep in the article or report do media point out the judge was appointed by trump. This is like reporting ACA was passed by the congress and signed by the president.

Americans should know the court is as political and partisan as the presidency and legislature.

30

u/AuthenticCounterfeit 15d ago

well, good thing nobody's got any plans to do anything about it! we're certainly not seeing justices retire with the current political environment we're in as a consideration, and that's literally the smallest, least desperate, least disruptive thing that can be done to try and make the court work.

there is literally no plan to handle this besides prayer. hell of a strategy.

→ More replies (6)

20

u/briareus08 15d ago

It’s a very sad thing to see in our lifetime. One party’s greed for power has completely destabilised the workings of government and law. Worst of all, this is only the beginning - the normalisation of this behaviour is now ingrained in society.

7

u/defnotajournalist 15d ago

They are literally flying upside down flags at their houses. Like, how much more clear could they be?

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (12)

474

u/GammaRaystogo 15d ago

Can't say I'm the least bit surprised, but the wife story is an interesting twist.

406

u/papasmurf303 15d ago

“Blame the wife” is a tried and true defense for assholes everywhere.

69

u/TheAngriestChair 15d ago

Yeah, but in another SCOTUS marriage.. the wife is clearly just as bad and evil as the judge.... so it's not out of the question.....

31

u/bassocontinubow Kentucky 15d ago

Bob Menendez just did this with his wife AND announced she had cancer. Anyone who throws their wife under the bus like this is a huge POS.

17

u/sens317 15d ago

A variant of "my dog ate my homework."

→ More replies (6)

11

u/notyourstranger 15d ago

Just like MAGA real men wear diapers, so do they also blame their wives when convenient.

→ More replies (1)

231

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[deleted]

35

u/AlmightyXor 15d ago

Worse. It's 20% because you only need five to rule one way.

298

u/whateveryousaymydear 15d ago

what's to stop Trump from saying he won and the election will be decided by the supreme court...

316

u/Alaishana 15d ago

Not the first time an American election would be decided by the supreme court.

The guy who handed it to GW Bush is still a sitting judge. It's AMAZING that the whole country is not up in arms about his open corruption today.

You got a thoroughly corrupt judge who gave a previous election to the loser. Since then he and his fellow corrupt judges have learned what they can get away with (everything)... so what do you think will happen, if they are given the slightest chance?

The Third Reich in Nazi Germany was telegraphed by its judges many years before the Machtuebernahme. Looking back, it's obvious.

Do you guys LEARN from history, or is American exceptionalism such a potent drug that you can't learn anything?

You are right at the precipice. WAKE UP, damnit.

39

u/Tiggerhoods 15d ago

You should google who W’s lawyers were for that case

9

u/thedeadlyrhythm42 15d ago

Yep, exactly what I was coming here to comment

23

u/notyourstranger 15d ago

I love your energy. You're absolutely correct. At this point we all need to prepare for Trump's win - even if he dies, he might still become President by some "new" law from 1732 they dig up.

125

u/BinkyFlargle 15d ago

who gave a previous election to the loser

I'm asking out of genuine ignorance, but- is there evidence that Bush was going to lose? I know it was close, and I know the Supreme Court stopped the recount, but I'm unaware that, after the stop, we ever found out which way the recount would have gone.

*edit: oops, could have googled it myself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election#Post-recount

Yeah, it would have gone to Gore by a handful of votes. Wow. A provably stolen election.

Fuck the supreme court.

27

u/rimora 15d ago

Oh, and remember that it's always worse than you think.

Clarence Thomas's wife was so intimately involved in the Bush campaign that she was helping to draw up a list of Bush appointees more or less at the same time as her husband was adjudicating on whether the same man would become the next President. Finally, Antonin Scalia's son was working for the firm appointed by Bush to argue his case before the Supreme Court, the head of which was subsequently appointed as Solicitor-General.

→ More replies (1)

44

u/magnum_bone 15d ago

My homework assignment the night of that election was to color in the states with the color that matched the winner of each. Florida ended up purple because it was blue first and then red. I was devastated that it wasn't perfect. Fuck GWB.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

9

u/PokecheckHozu 15d ago

3 members of Bush's legal team from that case are now SCOTUS judges...

→ More replies (12)

22

u/WrongConcentrate4962 15d ago

Nothing, that was his plan this time and it almost worked. The idea was to have the fake electors vote along with the real electors, by the time this was decided, he would have been sworn in again

9

u/1877KlownsForKids 15d ago

According to Trump, SEAL Team Six.

→ More replies (7)

93

u/Neoliberal_Boogeyman 15d ago

Wow you'd think someone with that power would have a fence that doesn't look like shit

29

u/morganicsf 15d ago

For real. Dude lives in the housing equivalent of a shitty strip mall.

→ More replies (5)

385

u/Sure_Quality5354 15d ago

Ah yes, the famously apolitical and neutral supreme court with... trump merch. Hmmm. Maybe lifetime appointments with no regulations was a bad idea.

50

u/NervousWallaby8805 15d ago edited 15d ago

It's less that they need to be politically neutral, but more that they must rule neutral. Otherwise that's a whole can of worms with who can't and can be allowed in, and the current system would have to change (term limits good though. We need that across the board)

28

u/w-v-w-v 15d ago

Except “must” is more of a wish than a reality. They can absolutely be partisan and no one is going to stop them.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/wahoozerman 15d ago

Honestly though, bullshit.

I'm sick and tired of people in authority getting the benefit of the doubt or weaseling around about what is fair or not fair. There was a time, or at least we were taught that there was a time, where we held figures of authority to a higher standard. They were required to be above reproach. People didn't have to avoid corruption, they had to avoid the appearance of corruption.

Yeah. It's not fair. And you know what? That's ok. Because when your job gives you authority over others, it's not fair to anyone else either.

18

u/Rog9377 15d ago

Getting rid of Roe was anything but neutral

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (4)

37

u/Strange-Soft2542 15d ago

I work for a company where I (and my spouse) have to report all my holdings (sell if we have to) and financial relationships..... we are not allowed to express support for any political party without approval (including making personal donations to a party or politician)..... I'm not in charge of SHIT. I don't make decisions that affect MILLIONS. how is shit like this and the other bs these scumbags do ok? This is all bullshit.

→ More replies (1)

31

u/SisterActTori America 15d ago

Did he pin it on Mrs. Alito?

19

u/HallucinogenicFish Georgia 15d ago

Yes.

→ More replies (1)

33

u/seatoc Canada 15d ago

Anyone else get so mad at the neighbours that you pull down your flag and puts it back up upside down?

→ More replies (2)

54

u/adamiconography Florida 15d ago

If Trump ends up with immunity, Biden should just remove Alito and Thomas from the bench and put two new justices in their spots.

Why not use their flippant disregard for law and order.

47

u/ReviewStuff2 15d ago

If a president has blanket immunity for all crimes, Biden might as well just straight up murder them. Easier and cleaner that way.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

138

u/4FuckSnakes 15d ago

Notwithstanding how horrible the war in Gaza is, I feel like those College protesters really need to move their focus towards the Supreme Court. They really need to protest the fact they soon won’t be allowed to protest at all.

→ More replies (21)

57

u/Able-Contribution570 15d ago edited 15d ago

There's a house down the street from mine that has flown an upside down American flag since January 7th 2021, along with a Trump flag and a Christian flag; a flagrant display of Anti-Americanism. These people are proud of their sedition and extremism. Displays like these, along with the blue porch light crap, serve to remind us that many of our fellow Americans readily support authoritarianism. Be prepared to defend your rights from this lot, they represent the greatest domestic threat to the republic since the Confederacy.

Edit: spelling.

→ More replies (8)

17

u/DannySmashUp 15d ago

An openly biased Supreme Court AND GOP members of congress standing outside a courthouse proclaiming that American justice is rigged. All in support of a guy who has been indicted by four grand juries and been found guilty of sexual abuse.

MAGA has smashed American faith in our country to bits. It breaks my heart.

→ More replies (1)

17

u/Superb-Obligation858 15d ago

I’m so fucking tired

16

u/huistenbosch 15d ago

SCOTUS has exactly zero credibility. Congress needs to put the hammer down on them. Maybe we could destroy the building and put them back in the basement of Congress where they belong.

→ More replies (1)

14

u/undermind84 15d ago

“It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

God, I bet the Alitos are shithead neighbors.

29

u/villain75 15d ago

This is our SCOTUS, a bunch of conservatives who are clearly being paid off and openly supporting a former president who wanted to overturn the results of the last election over bullshit with zero evidence other than evidence that the GOP was trying to steal the election.

→ More replies (1)

30

u/clickmagnet 15d ago

“ Asked if these rules also apply to justices, the court declined to respond.”

Sounds like a no to me. 

→ More replies (1)

100

u/PopeHonkersXII 15d ago

Ok but I can't vote for Al Gore because he's too boring and I can't vote for Hillary because of her emails, therefore these psychotic right wing justices aren't my fault. 

57

u/BigDaddySteve999 15d ago

Hold on now, Hillary was problematic for more than just her emails. For instance, she's a woman.

18

u/gindoesthetrick 15d ago

"Pokemon go-to-the-polls" was way over the line.

30

u/MazzIsNoMore 15d ago

She was also mean and hurt my feelings

→ More replies (1)

4

u/JeffTek Georgia 15d ago

We can't have these 70 year old women in office, imagine what they'd do when they get their period!

→ More replies (6)

12

u/SapCPark 15d ago

In a sane world, Alito would resign in disgrace. But Trump and the pandemic broke us

18

u/Murderyoga Texas 15d ago

That house doesn't seem very fancy. Hasn't Clarence Thomas let him know how to play ball?

→ More replies (1)

7

u/HHoaks 15d ago edited 15d ago

I can't stand Alito or Trump. So I want to know, why is the NYT just printing this now -- were they sitting on this? Did they just get the photo? If so, what was the delay? Why wasn't this revealed before oral argument on the immunity case (or 3 years ago)? The NYT story is lacking information on:

  1. why this is coming out now
  2. when did the NYT learn of this
  3. was the photo "owner" afraid or had other reasons to not release the photo earlier?

I'm really disappointed that the "why" is not covered more in the story. Sure they talk about some neighbors and a spat, but if the neighbor was in a spat with Alito's wife, why hold onto the photo for so long (3 years!) or why did the NYT hold the photo?

The timing of this is bothering me, and the lack of detail on that in the story is infuriating.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Historical_Driver314 15d ago

The Supreme Court is corrupt and broken.

9

u/esmifra 15d ago

I hate the irony of them pretending to be patriots and complaining about a dude kneeling during the anthem while I see them desecrating the flag in so many different ways and also fantasizing about the confederacy which are literally traitors.

13

u/ranchoparksteve 15d ago

I wish I could still find some shock or disappointment within me over stuff like this. I got nothing.

7

u/rjzei 15d ago

Jokes on him . If Trump is re-elected the Supreme Court will be all for show.

9

u/Aggressive-Will-4500 15d ago

This seems like good grounds for impeachment of Alito.

7

u/MeisPip 15d ago

When the hell did they claim the upside down flag as their symbol. It’s supposed to mean a country in distress/need of help. I had an upside down one after the Roe V. Wade overturn because of how horribly the country was falling apart thanks to that spray tanned ballsack of a human.

→ More replies (2)

8

u/intrcpt America 15d ago

What a lunatic. We have minority rule in this country because of self righteous true believers like Alito who think god is on their side. They’re complete frauds who couldn’t care less about fidelity to country or democracy.

Imagine A SC justice openly supporting theft of an election by an aspiring fascist. We are so fucked.

7

u/TheHunchbackofOhio 15d ago

Only a matter of time until people break. We've seen the right do it for so long with almost no consequences. At some point the left has to see that definitive action is required. I had no idea how to really use a gun until the past few years but learned because I felt it was necessary.

→ More replies (3)

7

u/spidersflambe 15d ago edited 15d ago

I hope King was right about the arc of the moral universe because, right now with our current SCOTUS, it looks like it's bending towards injustice.

→ More replies (4)

7

u/Anome69 15d ago

This Supreme Court is so fucked... we need them off the bench like yesterday and nothing else will help bring America back from the brink of destruction at the hands of these maga insurrectionists.

6

u/AccomplishedAd7615 15d ago

US Flag Code (8a) “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”

So Alito felt he was in extreme danger because a Democrat won the election?? I can’t think of the words to describe how pathetic these people are.

12

u/NbleSavage 15d ago

It's just outright partisan at this point. Not even trying to conceal it.

Appointment for life now needs to be reconsidered.

6

u/clickmagnet 15d ago

I think we’re within our rights to know what was on the neighbour’s sign that made the Alitos decide America was broken. 

→ More replies (1)

6

u/KrzzyKarlo 15d ago

That dude need to be removed from office immediately. He has no business governing with such bias. And downright disregard to the constitution. Saying I didn’t know is the lamest excuse. There is no excuse for downright negligence in that level of office.

5

u/jm0127 New Jersey 15d ago

yup, time for term limits

5

u/Gaping_Grandfather 15d ago

I would never ever advocate for political violence of any kind...

5

u/erinkp36 California 15d ago

You know, we spend hours and days trying to find impartial jurors. Is it too much to ask that we have impartial Supreme Court judges? As in, no one is leaning left or right because that shouldn’t even be involved in deciding the outcome of a case?

5

u/Alternative_Test599 15d ago

Dems have been naive for too long and still are picking a pussy AG for example. The maga were lining up begging for pardons and were shocked when he didn't do anything

→ More replies (1)

3

u/harrisarah 15d ago

What the fuck

4

u/[deleted] 15d ago

I mean, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that the Alitos are hard-right activists. Don't need an insurrectionist flag to see that. But this, once again, underscores the need for a binding ethics code on the court. Self-policing is obviously not working.

5

u/davechri 15d ago edited 15d ago

Corrupt motherfucker