Antonin Scalia died in a five-star resort in Texas he was not paying for. His room costs upwards of $1000 per night - but cost him, nothing. His host had an issue brought before the court just a year previously, miraculously the court refused to hear it - helping Scalia's host, immensely.
Justice Scalia was no stranger to freebies - a lot of freebies. Between 2004-2014 Justice Scalia took 258 trips paid for by private citizen - freebies. That's 26 trips a year. If each averaged a week - that's 26 weeks out of a 52 week year spent traveling on someone else's dime. Half-time work, half-time free travel - not a bad gig. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Ireland, Switzerland. That's conservatively about 2 million dollars given to him in free travel in 10 years - roughly his entire 10 year salary, pre-tax.
The Citizens United case on campaign finance was supported by Scalia and Thomas after both attended a posh political retreat in Palm Springs - free of charge, paid for by Charles Koch of the Koch brothers who benefited from the decision immensely. Some would argue that this decision has done more harm to the American political system than any other single act in history.
I think at the very least it is fair to say that Justice Scalia and others on the court have danced very close to the line on many occasions - raising questions as to their impartiality. If these handful of people - these supreme court justices - have the power to halt and perhaps even destroy historic international accords to curb global warming, agreed to by almost every nation of the world, then there can be NO DOUBT AT ALL as to the justices ethics and impartiality - none.
This nonsense has to stop - now.
Justice Scalia was no stranger to freebies - a lot of freebies. Between 2004-2014 Justice Scalia took 258 trips paid for by private citizen - freebies. That's 26 trips a year. If each averaged a week - that's 26 weeks out of a 52 week year spent traveling on someone else's dime. Half-time work, half-time free travel - not a bad gig. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Ireland, Switzerland. That's conservatively about 2 million dollars given to him in free travel in 10 years - roughly his entire 10 year salary, pre-tax.
The Citizens United case on campaign finance was supported by Scalia and Thomas after both attended a posh political retreat in Palm Springs - free of charge, paid for by Charles Koch of the Koch brothers who benefited from the decision immensely. Some would argue that this decision has done more harm to the American political system than any other single act in history.
I think at the very least it is fair to say that Justice Scalia and others on the court have danced very close to the line on many occasions - raising questions as to their impartiality. If these handful of people - these supreme court justices - have the power to halt and perhaps even destroy historic international accords to curb global warming, agreed to by almost every nation of the world, then there can be NO DOUBT AT ALL as to the justices ethics and impartiality - none.
This nonsense has to stop - now.
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