[jeffkrol]

Big Business Gets New Friend: the Courts - TheStreet

Today I join the ranks of conspiracy theorists. Yep, I'm joining forces with the tinfoil-hat-wearing dunderheads I've been criticizing in this and other forums for years. There is a conspiracy out there to screw the public on behalf of large corporations, and I can name for you where the plotters reside: at the United States Supreme Court.................It's not just the court's decision on Monday, ruling against a class-action suit against Wal-Mart(WMT_), that has persuaded me to join the conspiracy nuts. That decision handed a gift to sexually discriminating, toxic-drug-manufacturing, securities-law-violating companies across the country. But the court's ruling a week earlier was truly a dilly. That threw out a case against Janus Capital Group(JNS_), ruling that mutual fund companies can escape liability by hiding behind "management companies" that are nothing more than pieces of paper filed with the Delaware Secretary of State.

[GeneV]

There are so many things wrong with where the court has gone that it is hard to know where to begin. As it has evolved, this is not a strict constructionist court but just a pro-corporate court. There are a large number of true constitutional conservatives who oppose where this court has gone. Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court's decision on campaign financing

The court completely misses the point of this kind of class action where the injury and damage are different for different individuals. The point is to decide the common point of law, and the common facts, which then makes determination of the injuries to the thousands of victims quicker and less expensive.

[jeffkrol]

Private Prisons Spend Millions On Lobbying To Put More People In Jail | ThinkProgress

Justices Have Been Forced To Resign For Doing What Clarence Thomas Has Done | ThinkProgress

It is difficult to distinguish Fortas’ scandal from Thomas’. Like Fortas, Thomas accepted several very valuable gifts from parties who are frequently interested in the outcome of federal court cases. One of Thomas’ benefactors has even filed briefs in his Court since giving Thomas a $15,000 gift, and Thomas has not recused himself from each of these cases.

Of course, Thomas is also the least likely Justice to actually follow the command of precedent. Thomas embraces a discredited theory of the Constitution which would return America to a time when federal child labor laws were considered unconstitutional. His fellow justices criticize him for showing “utter disregard for our precedent and Congress’ intent.” Even ultra-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia finds Thomas’ approach to the law too extreme — in Scalia’s words “I am a textualist. I am an originalist. I am not a nut.”

But Thomas’ disregard for what has come before him changes nothing about the precedent he faces. If Abe Fortas had to resign his seat, so too should Clarence Thomas.

[GeneV]

The corruption in this area is sickening. Our former long-time (Dem.) president of the Senate was a strong opponent of private prisons. One day in about 1998, he changed his tune to the surprise of many constituents and supported a contract with Wackenhut. The next year, Wackenhut announced he was on board as a consultant. Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money ... - Google Books If I remember correctly, the annual pay as a "consultant" was in six figures for some unspecified number of years.

This fine example of our political class is now living in a federal hotel, after it came to light that he took about $750,000 from contractors building a new court house. I've never understood why it took that many years for him to get there.

[wildman]

The corruption in this area is sickening.

Yes.
We are politically in the end stage of decadence -
excessive self-indulgence and moral decay.

A perfectly good simple English word that describes what's going on in Washington perfectly.

[GeneV]

Yes.
We are politically in the end stage of decadence -
excessive self-indulgence and moral decay.

A perfectly good simple English word that describes what's going on in Washington perfectly.

Actually, I was not referring to Washington. Most of the private prison corruption is at the state capitol.

[jeffkrol]

Back to the fed a bit........

And that's how the Court's 2010-2011 term ended. With a great deal of divisiveness over core constitutional issues, with a same-planet, different-world approach to the import of legal precedent and the factual records below, and with no meaningful sense that things are likely to get any better any time soon.

The First Amendment Giveth—And Taketh Away, Too - Andrew Cohen - National - The Atlantic

I'll get back to you on one of our state supreme court judges allegedly choking another SCJ