Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here today for the 31st time in my series on the special interest scheme that captured the U.S. Supreme Court. There is an old adage that the best way to show that one stick is crooked is to set a straight stick down next to it. So, today, we are going to look at some sticks. Supreme Court Justices are caught over and over receiving enormous gifts, often from people very interested in Court proceedings, and refusing even to report the gifts as the law requires. The disciplinary process for these Justices is virtually nonexistent. Not even basic factfinding takes place. So let's compare the Court's dereliction about its own conduct with the straight stick of how other Federal officials are treated when they don't report gifts, but let's start with a recap of the history. After the first round of gifts of yacht and jet travel from billionaire Harlan Crow to Justice Clarence Thomas, the Judicial Conference, which is the administrative body which oversees the judicial branch of government, investigated the matter, and that investigation buried the situation rather than get to the bottom of it to the point even of applying the wrong legal process. The law requires the Conference, if there is a reasonable chance that the failures to disclose were willful, to refer the determination of willfulness to the Attorney General. There is good reason for that. One, the Attorney General has real investigative resources.…”