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☆ Senate Panel Approves Supreme Court Ethics Bill With Dim Prospects
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Carl Hulse | More About Carl Hulse | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would impose strict new ethics rules on justices, moving over fierce objections from Republicans to address a string of revelations about Supreme Court justices taking free luxury trips and receiving other financial benefits from wealthy benefactors. The legislation, which stands little chance of advancing given the strong G.O.P. opposition, would require the Supreme Court to, at a minimum, adopt and adhere to ethics and disclosure rules equivalent to those applied to members of Congress. It would also impose new transparency requirements and create a panel of appellate judges to review misconduct complaints made against the justices. Democratic members of the committee said the action was necessary because the court has refused to police itself.

Persons: Richard J, Durbin Organizations: Democratic Locations: Illinois

☆ DOJ antitrust chief Kanter: New merger guidelines are meant to provide transparency to the public
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailDOJ antitrust chief Kanter: New merger guidelines are meant to provide transparency to the publicJonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the release of new merger enforcement guidelines from the FTC and DOJ, what it means for evaluating mergers going forward, and more.

Persons: Kanter, Jonathan Kanter Organizations: Department of Justice’s Antitrust, FTC, DOJ

Some will say the case is not broad or bold enough, that Mr. Trump and the other alleged national ringleaders should have been charged as well. Others will say Ms. Nessel cast too wide a net, pulling in low-level party functionaries who did not know better. Ms. Nessel got it just right, prosecuting crimes firmly within her jurisdiction, while opening the way for federal authorities to net even bigger fish. Ms. Nessel brought the same eight counts against all 16 defendants. Until now there have been no charges centered on the fake electors plot.

Persons: We’ve, Dana Nessel, Jack Smith, Donald Trump, Trump, Nessel Organizations: Department of Locations: Michigan

☆ Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s Remarkable Dissent - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But I don’t want to discuss Roberts’s majority opinion as much as I do Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent. Kagan wrote something unusual. “From the first page to the last, today’s opinion departs from the demands of judicial restraint,” Kagan wrote. To say that the Supreme Court can violate the Constitution is to reject the idea that the court is somehow outside the constitutional system. For Congress, especially, to exercise its authority to discipline the court when it oversteps its bounds.

Persons: Elena Kagan’s, Kagan, ” Kagan, “, ”

☆ Along With Conservative Triumphs, Signs of New Caution at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Adam Liptak | Alicia Parlapiano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court ended its term this week in familiar fashion, issuing blockbuster conservative decisions on affirmative action, gay rights and student loans that divided along partisan lines, with the court’s three Democratic appointees in dissent. While not quite as stunning as last June’s decisions eliminating the right to abortion and expanding gun rights, the new rulings were of a piece with them and were a further indication that the court remains receptive to the conservative legal movement’s agenda, including cutting back on a progressive conception of civil rights and frustrating President Biden’s initiatives. But the entire story of the most recent term is considerably more complicated than that of the previous one, which had seemed to establish an unyielding conservative juggernaut characterized by impatience and ambition — and built to last. A year later, the court remains deeply conservative but is more in tune with the fitfully incremental approach of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who is attentive to his court’s legitimacy, than with the take-no-prisoners approach of Justice Clarence Thomas. The chief justice’s strategy — and votes — produced a fair number of liberal victories.

Persons: —, John G, Roberts, Clarence Thomas Organizations: Democratic

☆ Clarence Thomas: Appellate judge defends justice in new book, rejects 'pot shots' at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Ariane De Vogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A federal appeals court judge previously on short lists for the Supreme Court is taking the rare step to broadly and publicly reject allegations that Justice Clarence Thomas has been improperly influenced by lavish gifts provided by a conservative billionaire, dismissing “pot shots” at the Supreme Court in general. Thapar this past week released a new book about Thomas entitled “The People’s Justice,” in which he explores the justice’s favored judicial philosophy of originalism. “You can judge their works, and what they do, against what they’ve done in the past,” Thapar told CNN. Ethics and financial disclosuresThapar rejects suggestions that Thomas should have disclosed the hospitality provided by Crow on annual financial disclosure forms. They have called Justice Thomas ‘the cruelest justice,’ ‘stupid,’ and even an ‘Uncle Tom’ a traitor to his race,” Thapar writes.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Amul Thapar, Thapar, Thomas, originalism, Thomas ’, Thomas ’ originalism, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Harlan Crow’s, ” Thapar, Ginni, Crow, ” Virginia Canter, ” “, ” Canter, hadn’t, “, –, ”, Thomas’s, Thomas ‘, ’, Tom ’, Elizabeth Wydra, ” Wydra Organizations: CNN, Eastern, Eastern District of, ProPublica, Citizens, Crow, Administrative, Center Locations: Cincinnati, Eastern District, Eastern District of Kentucky, Washington

☆ Opinion | Does Justice Alito Hear Himself?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Jesse Wegman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And appearances count, perhaps nowhere more than at the Supreme Court, which is the final arbiter of many of the most fraught issues of American life. Justice Alito is hardly the first member of the current court to face charges of serious ethical lapses. Justice Thomas has mostly kept his mouth shut, though he did issue a brief statement after the ProPublica article about him. Justice Alito, by choosing to speak up at length and in a forum that he knew would be both friendly and prominent, muscled his opinion into public view. For instance, Justice Alito defended his decision not to report Mr. Singer’s freebie because it was “personal hospitality,” which he believed, like his colleague Justice Thomas, did not need to be reported.

Persons: Alito, Clarence Thomas, Ginni, ProPublica, Thomas’s, Harlan Crow, Thomas, Justice Alito, Singer’s, Justice Thomas, Singer, he’d Organizations: Supreme, Trump White House Locations: Alaska

☆ Opinion | John Roberts Throws a Curveball
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Richard L. Hasen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It’s possible that he had a change of heart, but it’s more likely that his institutionalist side kicked in. But as recently as last year, when Alabama sought a stay before the 2022 elections of the lower-court ruling the court just affirmed, Chief Justice Roberts suggested rethinking or tinkering with those precedents even as he opposed the stay. Since Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and amended it in 1982, the Supreme Court has repeatedly weighed in on its scope and meaning. By 2013, however, the court held that Congress no longer had the power to require federal preapproval of voting changes. In Shelby County, Chief Justice Roberts declared that “history did not end in 1965” and that considerable improvement in the South made continued federal oversight unconstitutional.

Persons: Milligan, Justice Roberts, Kavanaugh, Justice Kavanaugh Organizations: Alabama, Supreme, statehouses Locations: Shelby County

☆ Ron DeSantis is drawing from the Trump Supreme Court playbook
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Joan Biskupic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appeared for the first time before the Florida Federalist Society in January 2020, Florida Gov. Some of DeSantis’ state court appointees became Trump federal court appointees, and their entire approach to the bench is fueled by Federalist Society figures like Leo. WaPo: Supreme Court justice's wife received thousands in 'hidden payments' 01:49 - Source: CNNUsing the Trump playbookBy using Leo for advice on state judicial appointments, DeSantis already is following a Trump playbook. He has filled a majority of the seats on the seven-member Florida Supreme Court, some twice over. Midway through his term, he wrote on Twitter, “The Supreme Court was one of the main reasons I got elected President.”

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Ron DeSantis, Thomas, Leonard Leo, Leo, Donald Trump’s, DeSantis, “, ” Leo, Ginni Thomas, ”, ProPublica’s, Thomas ’, Harlan Crow, Octavio Jones, Roe, Wade, Sullivan, Don McGahn, Gregory Katsas, Trump, ” DeSantis, ” Thomas, Katsas, WaPo, DeSantis ’, Jesse Panuccio, ” Panuccio, Barbara Lagoa, Robert Luck, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lagoa, Amy Coney Barrett, “ I’ve, Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Barack Obama’s, Antonin Scalia Organizations: CNN, Florida Federalist Society, Florida Gov, Disney, Federalist Society, White, Harvard Law School, Politico, Representatives, Trump White House, Republican, Trump, Republicans, DeSantis, Tampa Bay Times, Zuma Press, GOP, New York Times, US, DC Circuit, Gov, Orlando Federalist Society, Appeals, Circuit, Florida Supreme, Twitter Locations: Florida, Iowa, ’, Washington, Georgia, America, New Hampshire

Biden highlighted his administration’s work to prevent gun violence in a weekend op-ed that called out Congress to do more on the issue. Plus, they want to invest early in Florida, hoping to prove the state isn’t truly off the map for Democrats. Thinking about it: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who has been weighing a run for president, told Politico he will decide before late June. Rick Perry didn’t rule out running for president again in an interview with CNN, and wouldn’t endorse Trump. Jim Justice’s office to obtain his official calendar, NBC News first reports.

☆ Opinion: Mitch McConnell’s confidence is being put to the test
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Not to worry, said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a veteran of debt limit battles. McConnell’s reassurance that all will work out in the end is validated by history, but that doesn’t mean this time couldn’t be different. “If female voters are key to a Donald Trump victory in 2024, the former president should be in big trouble – but he doesn’t seem to care,” Jill Filipovic observed. “The town hall audience – selected on the basis of their intention to vote in the Republican primary in New Hampshire – appeared to be made up mostly of Trump fans.

☆ Opinion: Clarence Thomas’ inability to fill out forms properly defies belief
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Opinion Steven Lubet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has had to explain decades of omissions on his annual financial reports. As a Supreme Court justice, Thomas routinely interprets complex statutes that affect millions of Americans, priding himself on close adherence to the text. It beggars belief that he could repeatedly misinterpret plain statutory requirements and simple instructions on his annual disclosure reports. Supreme Court justices have life tenure. That is why full compliance with financial disclosure laws is so important, and why Thomas’ evasiveness is so wrong.

☆ Harlan Crow’s Gifts, Financial Ties With Justice Thomas Under Fresh Scrutiny by Democrats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Democrats asked Harlan Crow to provide details on gifts worth more than $415 made to any Supreme Court justice. Photo: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg NewsWASHINGTON—Senate Democrats are ramping up their scrutiny of billionaire Harlan Crow ’s relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas , after the Republican real-estate magnate rebuffed a request for details on his gifts to and business dealings with the Supreme Court member. In letters dated Monday to Mr. Crow and the entities that formally own his private resort, jet and yacht, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 11 Democrats requested details on all payments or gifts worth more than $415 to any Supreme Court justice or justice’s relative, along with similar information about real-estate transactions, lodging, transportation and private club benefits.

Washington CNN —Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked Harlan Crow, the GOP megadonor and friend of Clarence Thomas whose gifts to the Supreme Court justice have prompted fresh criticism about the ethical standards of the nation’s highest court, for more information about the expenditures. The letters also state that the recent revelations come amid a lack of American confidence in the Supreme Court, pointing to recent polling. Thomas had not financially disclosed the hospitality from or the deal with the Texas billionaire. Democrats have vowed to keep investigating the ethics of the nation’s highest court, and Chief Justice John Roberts declined an invitation to testify at a hearing on Supreme Court ethics. Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin said “everything is on the table” as the panel scrutinizes new ethics concerns around Thomas.

☆ Senate Judiciary chair says ‘everything is on the table’ in response to Clarence Thomas revelations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Aileen Graef | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin said Sunday that “everything is on the table” as the panel scrutinizes new ethics concerns around Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Crow also purchased several real estate properties, including the home where Thomas’ mother lives, from the Thomas family and paid boarding school tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew, according to ProPublica. But Durbin said Sunday the recent revelations “just embarrasses me” as he called on Chief Justice John Roberts to impose a code of conduct on the court. Roberts previously declined Durbin’s request to voluntarily testify in a hearing on Supreme Court ethics. Feinstein, 89, has been away from the Senate since March as she recovers at home in California from shingles.

☆ ProPublica: GOP megadonor paid private school tuition for grandnephew of Justice Clarence Thomas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A Texas billionaire and GOP megadonor paid boarding school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew, and the justice did not report the financial assistance for the child he helped raised on his annual disclosures, according to a new ProPublica report – the latest revelation raising ethical questions around the high court. The ProPublica report on Thursday revealed that the billionaire Harlan Crow paid tuition for Mark Martin, who lived with Thomas’ family as a child and for whom the justice became a legal guardian. ProPublica cited a 2009 bank statement and an interview with a former administrator at the Georgia boarding school Martin attended. The former administrator at the school, Hidden Lake Academy, told ProPublica that Crow paid for Martin’s tuition for the year or so Martin was at the boarding school. The administrator said, according to ProPublica, that he had been told by Crow that Crow also paid for Martin’s tuition at another school, the Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia, which is Crow’s alma mater.

☆ Justice Thomas’s Friend Defends Failure to Disclose Tuition Payments by Harlan Crow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Charlie Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — A Republican donor from Texas paid for two years of private-school tuition for Justice Clarence Thomas’s great-nephew, a gift that the justice did not disclose, a friend of the justice acknowledged in a statement on Thursday. The acknowledgment added detail to a report on Thursday by ProPublica, which last month documented how Justice Thomas had received gifts of luxury travel from the billionaire donor, Harlan Crow. The revelations, which also include the sale of the home of Justice Thomas’s mother to Mr. Crow, have raised questions over the justice’s ethical practices. In his statement, Mark Paoletta, Justice Thomas’s friend and a former official for the Trump administration, argued that the justice was not required to report the tuition. “This malicious story shows nothing except for the fact that the Thomases and the Crows are kind, generous, and loving people who tried to help this young man,” Mr. Paoletta wrote.

☆ The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Simone Pathe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

The GOP needs a net gain of one or two seats to flip the chamber, depending on which party wins the White House in 2024, and it’s Democrats who are defending the tougher seats. Jim Justice announcing his Senate bid in West Virginia – the seat most likely to flip party control in 2024. In a presidential year, the national environment is likely to loom large, especially with battleground states hosting key Senate races. Two businessmen with the ability to tap into or raise significant resources could be in the mix – Eric Hovde, who lost the GOP Senate nomination in 2012, and Scott Mayer. Still, unseating Cruz in a state Trump won by nearly 6 points in 2020 will be a tall order.

The rule also require transitioning existing fleets to zero-emission vehicles. Big rigs, local delivery and government fleets must transition to zero emission by 2035, garbage trucks and local buses by 2039, and sleeper cab tractors and specialty vehicles by 2042. American Trucking Associations Chief Executive Chris Spear criticized the decision to force motor carriers to purchase zero-emission vehicles. On Thursday, CARB adopted new locomotive regulations requiring that by 2030 only those less than 23 years old could operate in the state. The Biden administration must still approve waivers for California to implement the new regulations.

☆ Gov. Jim Justice Is Expected to Announce Senate Run for Joe Manchin’s Seat
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Maggie Astor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Jim Justice of West Virginia is set to announce a Senate campaign on Thursday, giving Republicans a strong recruit against Senator Joe Manchin III, one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in 2024. The West Virginia race is one of the most essential pickup opportunities for Republicans if they are to retake control of the Senate, which Democrats hold by a narrow 51-49 seat margin. Mr. Manchin, who represents by far the most Republican state held by any Democratic senator, has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election, but Republicans are hoping that Mr. Justice’s entry might spur him toward retirement. Mr. Manchin in recent years has been one of the few Democrats who can compete in the overwhelmingly Republican state.

☆ Chief Justice Declines to Testify Before Congress Over Ethics Concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the letter, Chief Justice Roberts attached a “statement of ethics principles and practices” signed by the current justices and included an appendix of the relevant laws that apply to judicial disclosures. The justices also said they may be limited in what to disclose because of security concerns. In a statement, Mr. Durbin said that the hearing would proceed regardless. “I am surprised that the chief justice’s recounting of existing legal standards of ethics suggests current law is adequate and ignores the obvious,” Mr. Durbin wrote. “It is time for Congress to accept its responsibility to establish an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court, the only agency of our government without it.”

☆ Justice Clarence Thomas and the Plague of Bad Reporting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( James Taranto | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Wonder Land: When we began to devalue conscience, blurring a pragmatic understanding of right from wrong, we unleashed the whirlwind that engulfs us now. Images: Margaret Small/Reuter/Zuma Press Composite: Mark KellyProPublica’s big scoop turned out to be a quarter-teaspoon. In an error-filled report last week, the opinionated news site got one point right: Justice Clarence Thomas didn’t disclose the 2014 sale of his one-third interest in three Savannah, Ga., properties to a company controlled by his friend Harlan Crow . On these pages, in an article published online Sunday, I observed that he may have to amend his financial-disclosure form for that year. On Monday, “a source close to Thomas” told CNN that the justice would do so.

☆ Spooked dealmakers scurry back into their foxholes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jeffrey Goldfarb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jonathan Kanter, a lawyer by training, has become something of a magician. Pay closer attention, however, and Kanter is methodically rewriting a decades-old regulatory playbook. Last year, these breakup charges reached their highest level in a decade, at an average 4.5% of deal prices. The Department of Agriculture partnered with the DOJ on the case, another feature of Kanter’s plan of attack. As legal weaknesses emerge, dealmakers should be in position to better structure transactions and defend themselves at trial.

☆ UK begins long and uncertain road back from Brexit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Britain is beginning the long and uncertain road back from Brexit. Changes to the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol were inevitable. There’s still scope to improve Johnson’s trade deal, struck in 2019. The route back is uncertain, but the symbolic importance of the Northern Ireland deal is not. The agreement marks a “new chapter” in relations between the UK and European Union, Sunak said in a press conference.

☆ West Virginia’s Tax-Cut Crossroads
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

West Virginia lawmakers want their state to become a destination for people and investment, and GOP Gov. Jim Justice has proposed a major tax cut to help. Mr. Justice’s plan would cut West Virginia’s top income-tax rate to 3.25% from 6.5%. “It will take us three years to pull it off,” Mr. Justice said in his State of the State address. “But absolutely it is that aggressive pathway that will absolutely put unbelievable money right back into all of our pockets.”

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