The Supreme Court is now a total agent of corporations

[malaise]

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/supreme-court-finds-flaws-in-skilling-conviction/
<snip>
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the convictions of former Enron chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling and former Hollinger International chief executive Conrad M. Black “flawed,” finding fault in interpretations of the statutes used to prosecute the two men.

The justices sent both cases back to lower courts for review. The conviction of Mr. Black was vacated and remanded because it was based on the precedent set by Mr. Skilling’s conviction.

[Lil Missy]

1. Unbelievable.

[malaise]

2. I guess Ken Lay can now rise

from the grave.

[racaulk]

3. Or he can come out of hiding in South America. nt

[malaise]

21. Same point

:evilgrin:

[Scuba]

5. Bingo

[The Hitman]

4. Ummm....

"GINSBURG, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, Part I of which was joined by ROBERTS, C. J., and STEVENS, SCALIA, KENNEDY, THOMAS, and ALITO, JJ."

[marmar]

7. Ummm, what's your point?

nt

[The Hitman]

17. Havent had time to read it yet

but there are TWO liberal justices in the majority.

[marmar]

6. I would say unbelievable but it would be a lie.....

If it's anti-Democratic, anti-human rights pro-corporate, the fascist majority on the court is consistently bankable.

[bvar22]

8. You can thank the "Centrist" Democrats for Alito and Roberts.

Without their active help, Alito & Roberts would not be on the Bench.

Google "Gang of 14".

[malaise]

9. Indeed

They voted for Mrs Alito's tears.

[blm]

12. Schumer actively UNDERMINED the Alito filibuster.

His office planted smears against Kerry in the press including questioning Kerry's motives for leading the filibuster effort.

Kerry and Kennedy BEGGED Dem senators to lead the filibuster as Kerry was set to be in Europe as top Dem on Small Business Committee, and Kennedy had just taken a two-week press beating over his opposition to Alito in committee. NONE would do it...forcing Kerry to have to do it himself...from Switzerland.

Snakes wearing donkey masks.

[alsame]

22. But, but, but - he later

apologized. CYA is what he does best.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/07/schumer_regrest_no_alito_filib.html

Schumer Regrets Not Leading an Alito Filibuster

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared that his decision not to lead a successful filibuster in January 2006 of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's nomination was one of his "greatest failings" as a senator.

--snip--

Those and other High Court rulings prompted Schumer's unusually blunt assessment of his own performance in the confirmation process, particularly during the hearings on Alito, who was widely viewed as the more conservative of the two justices. Here's what Schumer said of his own failings:

"Every day, I am pained that I didn't do more to try to block Justice Alito. Every two years, I look back and take stock of my greatest failings and regrets in the past Congress. Without question, my greatest regret in the 109th Congress was not doing more to block Alito. Alito shouldn't have been confirmed. I should have done a better job; my colleagues said we didn't have the votes, but I think we should have twisted more arms and done more."

There was an effort to filibuster the Alito nomination, led by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.), but it did not have the vocal public support of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), then the minority leader, or Schumer or other members of Democratic leadership. While Reid, Schumer and all four Senate Democrats currently running for president voted to sustain a filibuster, they did little to actively support the idea and sometimes even mocked the effort. Only 25 senators voted to sustain the filibuster, and the next day Alito was confirmed to the seat on a 58-42 vote.

[Mr. Sparkle]

10. The court is out of control, it is time to impeach them.

[Hannah Bell]

11. +100

[immune]

14. Impeach?

Who defines "good behavior"?

[immune]

13. Can't say we weren't warned.

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
— James Madison (Federalist Papers

[mod mom]

15. Ginsburg said the ruling does not necessarily require Mr. Skilling’s conviction to be overturned.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion that the ruling does not necessarily require Mr. Skilling’s conviction to be overturned.

The court, at the same time, rejected Mr. Skilling’s assertion that he did not get a fair trial in Houston because of harshly critical publicity surrounding the case in Enron’s hometown.

The court in this ruling also sided with the former newspaper magnate, Conrad Black, setting aside a federal appeals court decision that had upheld Mr. Black’s honest services fraud conviction. But as in Mr. Skilling’s case, the justices left the ultimate resolution of the case to the appeals court.

The justices also threw out an appeals court ruling against Bruce Weyhrauch, a former Alaska legislator who is facing charges under the honest services law.

Thursday’s ruling could affect the continuing prosecution of Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois Governor, and the convictions of Don Siegelman, the former Alabama Governor, and Richard Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth.

The government argues that both Mr. Skilling’s and Mr. Black’s convictions should be sustained, even with the court’s ruling Thursday.

-snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/business/25bizcourt.html?dbk

[kenny blankenship]

16. Why should they be different from the other branches of government?

[jotsy]

18. Supremely courting the corporatocracy they still are.

I went to the legal forums here in January, after the Citizen United charade and asked if there were any legal precedent for impeaching Supreme Court members. The answer was yes and no. Like the Clinton impeachment, Samuel Chase was impeached by the House of Representatives for high crimes and misdemeanors in 1804, but the Senate didn't ratify. I contended then that Roberts should step down out of sheer embarrassment and from there that any sitting justice who ruled in corporate favor and in support of ending the recount in Florida should also be made to step down. That list includes Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy.

Skilling is exactly where he belongs right now and anyone I consider fit to be a judge knows that is where he should remain.

Impeach them now, too much damage lies in the wake of corporate inspired judicial activism already.

[Greyhound]

19. K&R for the utter predictability. n/t

[amborin]

20. K&R