Under Trump this will only get worse.
By Adam Liptak
Eight years ago, (click here) before revelations about luxury travel and gifts accepted by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., the Supreme Court considered the case of a politician who had been prosecuted for public corruption after receiving similar benefits. The court threw out his conviction. In the years since, the court has overturned four other convictions in public corruption cases.
In all five of the decisions, the court’s message has been that “federal law must be interpreted so as not to cover behavior that looks, to any reasonable observer, sketchy as hell,” Josh Chafetz, a law professor at Georgetown, wrote in a new article, “Corruption and the Supreme Court,” which will be published next year in The Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities....
The court is already lining up revenge politics as a legitimate venue. Trump has ruined lives. He has nearly allowed an entire country to be sucked up by Russia. His ideas of what is best is based in corruption and a personal agenda that improves his wealth.
Put an end to this America!
October 21, 2024
By Jordan Rubin
The high court’s denial, which comes as Trump has vowed a revenge-filled second term, is unsurprising for reasons having nothing to do with Cohen and the former president. That’s because the court has long restricted the sort of claim that Cohen sought to bring.
In a 1971 case called Bivens, the high court allowed a damages claim against federal officials for alleged Fourth Amendment violations. But the court has taken a stingy view since then, routinely rejecting so-called Bivens claims. In a 2022 decision, Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion cited Bivens while noting: “Over the past 42 years, however, we have declined 11 times to imply a similar cause of action for other alleged constitutional violations.” Thomas wrote that the court will deny claims “in all but the most unusual circumstances.”
Cohen argued that his case met those circumstances, but not enough justices agreed. It takes four justices to grant review. The court denied the petition without comment from any of the justices....
