John Oliver on Supreme Court Ethics

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

I saw the articles a few days ago about John Oliver offering Clarence Thomas $1mill a year to resign from the court, but the actual video of the full segment has been posted on YouTube now and it’s a pretty good watch if you’re concerned about court ethics. 
 

he goes over how confidence in the Supreme Court is at a historic low, how the court he basically no oversight and can do whatever it wants, and then takes a deep dive into all of the expense and extravagant gifts that Clarence Thomas has received from Conservative billionaires over the decades, and how his views and opinions on certain topics have changed and evolved. 
 

 

 

 

Edited February 23 by CoffeeTiger

[I_M4_AU 7,832]

So he stopped at Clearance Thomas?  What about the other justices?  Surely he isn’t being bias.

From 9 months ago:

Is it a crime to bribe a Supreme Court Justice?  John Oliver is a patrician hack that only presents one side of the issue.

I find it hilarious that he and other Democrats believe Clearance Thomas is fair game for racist comments.

 

 

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

1 hour ago, I_M4_AU said:

So he stopped at Clearance Thomas?  What about the other justices?  Surely he isn’t being bias.

From 9 months ago:

Is it a crime to bribe a Supreme Court Justice?  John Oliver is a patrician hack that only presents one side of the issue.

I find it hilarious that he and other Democrats believe Clearance Thomas is fair game for racist comments.

 

 

 

 

Ok…..so are you saying that John Oliver is wrong about what he said in this segment? If so what was he wrong about? 
 
 

and John Oliver is proposing rules and oversight that would apply to liberal justices just as much as to conservative justices. 

I don’t see why that would be a problem unless you believe that ethical oversight of the court would negatively impact Conservative judges like Thomas more than it would his liberal counterparts. 
 

Edited February 23 by CoffeeTiger

[I_M4_AU 7,832]

11 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

 

 

Ok…..so are you saying that John Oliver is wrong about what he said in this segment? If so what was he wrong about? 
 
 

and John Oliver is proposing rules and oversight that would apply to liberal justices just as much as to conservative justices. 

I don’t see why that would be a problem unless you believe that ethical oversight of the court would negatively impact Conservative judges like Thomas more than it would his liberal counterparts. 
 

I didn’t say he was wrong, I called him out for just going after Thomas by trying to bribe him.

If congress wants to enact oversight on the SCOTUS, so be it.  Both liberal and conservative justices have taken advantage of current rules.  Why are the libs always after Thomas?

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

24 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

I didn’t say he was wrong, I called him out for just going after Thomas by trying to bribe him.

If congress wants to enact oversight on the SCOTUS, so be it.  Both liberal and conservative justices have taken advantage of current rules.  Why are the libs always after Thomas?

 

Because at this point in time Clarence Thomas is the most blatant example of a a justice abusing those current rules in ways that creates a very strong appearance of impropriety and possible corruption. Yes, Sotomayor using her staff to push her book sales to colleges is 100% wrong and shouldn't be allowed, but it's not to the level of  "'hiding extravagant gifts from billionaire friends that they then make rulings on when they come before the court" wrong like Thomas. 

 

In that video of Ted Cruz, he started listing off a bunch of vacations and trips various justices have taken, which is just Cruz missing the point . Justice Thomas isn't being criticized for taking trips and vacations. He's being criticized for being GIVEN extravagant trips and vacations by some of the nations most powerful people and business leaders that the supreme court regularly hears cases involving.... and then HIDING those trips by not reporting them on disclosures that were created specifically for reporting things that Thomas was doing.

No, other supreme court justices are doing what Clarence Thomas has done to the level hes done it....at least if they are it hasn't been discovered yet. 

Thomas is also being criticized for not recusing himself from cases where he has a very clear conflict of interest. What other justice has taken up and ruled on cases where that justices on spouse has a direct interest and activist role in the subject of that very case?

 

I don't think you're being fully genuine if you say you don't understand why Justice Thomas has been receiving the brunt of criticism lately. 

 

 

[I_M4_AU 7,832]

9 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

I don't think you're being fully genuine if you say you don't understand why Justice Thomas has been receiving the brunt of criticism lately. 

Oh, I know why, its just not the same reason you believe.

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

2 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Oh, I know why, its just not the same reason you believe.

So just ignore the rest of my post and go straight for the "race" card, huh? 

[I_M4_AU 7,832]

10 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

So just ignore the rest of my post and go straight for the "race" card, huh? 

There wasn’t anything to comment on.  Thomas took trips and gifts that have been allowed by other Justices and it is in the eye of the beholder if they were more egregious or not.  Have congress rule on oversight and then if a Justice breaks the rule he/she is punished.  As simple as that.

[arein0 956]

13 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Have congress rule on oversight and then if a Justice breaks the rule he/she is punished.  As simple as that.

That was the overall point of the thread.

[I_M4_AU 7,832]

1 hour ago, arein0 said:

That was the overall point of the thread.

So why just bribe Thomas to quit?  Why not expose all of the Justices and bribe them to quit?  Very bias don’t you think?

[homersapien 11,373]

Why Thomas?

Good grief.

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

3 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

So why just bribe Thomas to quit?  Why not expose all of the Justices and bribe them to quit?  Very bias don’t you think?

 

You're taking the "bribe" bit too seriously I think. 

The video covered how Clarence Thomas has claimed in his past that he always dreamed about being wealthy and that Supreme Court pay is way too low and the job isn't worth doing for the compensation. 

 Oliver's just playing a bit here. "Hey, if you think the job pays too low and you want to be wealthy, here, I'll MAKE you wealthy if you agree to quit the court. 

 

And If it's not illegal for Clarence Thomas to have billionaire sugar daddies like Harlan Crow fund his life for him while he's an actual Supreme Court Justice (for absolutely NOTHING in return from Clarence...I'm sure), I don't see why it would be illegal for John Oliver to offer to pay Clarence money to retire.

 

 

 

Edited February 23 by CoffeeTiger

[I_M4_AU 7,832]

2 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

 

You're taking the "bribe" bit too seriously I think. 

The video covered how Clarence Thomas has claimed in his past that he always dreamed about being wealthy and that Supreme Court pay is way too low and the job isn't worth doing for the compensation. 

 Oliver's just playing a bit here. "Hey, if you think the job pays too low and you want to be wealthy, here, I'll MAKE you wealthy if you agree to quit the court. 

 

And If it's not illegal for Clarence Thomas to have billionaire sugar daddies like Harlan Crow fund his life for him while he's an actual Supreme Court Justice (for absolutely NOTHING in return from Clarence...I'm sure), I don't see why it would be illegal for John Oliver to offer to pay Clarence money to retire.

 

 

 

I will say this, if a conservative podcaster offered a liberal Justice to retire and threw in a $million as an incentive would you not take him seriously?  Was the guy from Cali serious about assassinating Kavanaugh?  If you can’t tell when Republicans are joking how are we suppose to tell when libs do it?

[PUB78 1,358]

On 2/23/2024 at 8:10 AM, I_M4_AU said:

I didn’t say he was wrong, I called him out for just going after Thomas by trying to bribe him.

If congress wants to enact oversight on the SCOTUS, so be it.  Both liberal and conservative justices have taken advantage of current rules.  Why are the libs always after Thomas?

Because he doesn’t follow the narrative of all blacks should be liberals, democrats and blindly obey.

An educated, intelligent and independent thinking black person is one of the Democrats worse nightmares.

[homersapien 11,373]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:43 AM, PUB78 said:

Because he doesn’t follow the narrative of all blacks should be liberals, democrats and blindly obey.

An educated, intelligent and independent thinking black person is one of the Democrats worse nightmares.

Says 78, as he plays the race card.

Or maybe you think it's imposible for educated, intelligent and independent thinking people - of any race - can also be corrupt. 

Does Thomas deserve a pass because he's black?

[AUApostle 7,651]

Why is John Oliver important?

[PUB78 1,358]

On 3/5/2024 at 2:41 PM, homersapien said:

Says 78, as he plays the race card.

Or maybe you think it's imposible for educated, intelligent and independent thinking people - of any race - can also be corrupt. 

Does Thomas deserve a pass because he's black?

Does he deserve to be persecuted because he is an educated, intelligent , successful black man that doesn't follow the "victim" mentality  of the  left?

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

16 hours ago, PUB78 said:

Does he deserve to be persecuted because he is an educated, intelligent , successful black man that doesn't follow the "victim" mentality  of the  left?

 

 

 

There's been a lot of conversation about Clarence Thomas's unethical conduct in this thread, but none of it has had anything to do with his race or level of education?

[homersapien 11,373]

20 hours ago, PUB78 said:

Does he deserve to be persecuted because he is an educated, intelligent , successful black man that doesn't follow the "victim" mentality  of the  left?

What a stupid, stupid post!

"Persecuted"?   You really think exposing Thomas's unethical behavior of accepting large gifts from people who could benefit from his judicial rulings qualifies as persecution?

What a perfect illustration of how MAGAs are corrupting the moral and ethical values of our country.

[PUB78 1,358]

4 hours ago, homersapien said:

What a stupid, stupid post!

"Persecuted"?   You really think exposing Thomas's unethical behavior of accepting large gifts from people who could benefit from his judicial rulings qualifies as persecution?

What a perfect illustration of how MAGAs are corrupting the moral and ethical values of our country.

He was persecuted long before these questions came up. How dare a person of color who was raised by his grandparents and overcame poverty and discrimination not be a professional victim??

Homer- you just don’t get it.

[Mims44 1,869]

On 2/22/2024 at 7:22 PM, CoffeeTiger said:

I saw the articles a few days ago about John Oliver offering Clarence Thomas $1mill a year to resign from the court, but the actual video of the full segment has been posted on YouTube now and it’s a pretty good watch if you’re concerned about court ethics. 
 

he goes over how confidence in the Supreme Court is at a historic low, how the court he basically no oversight and can do whatever it wants, and then takes a deep dive into all of the expense and extravagant gifts that Clarence Thomas has received from Conservative billionaires over the decades, and how his views and opinions on certain topics have changed and evolved. 
 

 

 

 

 

On 2/22/2024 at 8:14 PM, I_M4_AU said:

So he stopped at Clearance Thomas?  What about the other justices?  Surely he isn’t being bias.

From 9 months ago:

Is it a crime to bribe a Supreme Court Justice?  John Oliver is a patrician hack that only presents one side of the issue.

I find it hilarious that he and other Democrats believe Clearance Thomas is fair game for racist comments.

 

 

People often forget, that just like Fox news.... Last week tonight is about entertainment. And not a real 'news' broadcast.

So sure, it's partisan... why care? 

 

 

On 3/7/2024 at 10:37 AM, AUApostle said:

Why is John Oliver important?

No clue man, I can't stand him.

The show overall is ok, he has good writers and the flow of each episode works well. Lotsa funny bits over the years.

But that face and accent.... my god, hire anyone else. Please

[1716AU 728]

On 2/23/2024 at 3:23 PM, homersapien said:

Why Thomas?

Good grief.

What else would you expect this guy to say? He has no argument, no logic, just blatant stupidity.

 

And thinks the whole idea of politics is a piss people off that don't see his point of view.

[homersapien 11,373]

On 3/8/2024 at 6:40 PM, PUB78 said:

He was persecuted long before these questions came up. How dare a person of color who was raised by his grandparents and overcame poverty and discrimination not be a professional victim??

Homer- you just don’t get it.

I get that black people are essentially no different than white people - race is an artificial distinction.  We are all Homo sapiens.

Accordingly, it's quite possible for a black person to overcome poverty and racial discrimination to ultimately become a corrupt politician.  That goes for white people equally.

Edited March 11 by homersapien

[homersapien 11,373]

12 hours ago, Mims44 said:

 

People often forget, that just like Fox news.... Last week tonight is about entertainment. And not a real 'news' broadcast.

So sure, it's partisan... why care? 

 

 

No clue man, I can't stand him.

The show overall is ok, he has good writers and the flow of each episode works well. Lotsa funny bits over the years.

But that face and accent.... my god, hire anyone else. Please

This thread isn't about the comedy per se'.  It's about the facts the comedy is referring to.

Comedic satire and criticism of politicians is a old as human culture.