A quick primer on how cases get to the U.S. Supreme Court:
- A petitioner (the loser in the lower court) petitions the Supreme Court, a/k/a SCOTUS, for a Writ of Certiorari.
- If SCOTUS grants the petition and issues the writ, it means SCOTUS accepts the case for review and the appeal is on; if denied, SCOTUS is letting the ruling of the lower court stand.
- SCOTUS has discretion whether to issue the writ or deny it.
- It takes at least four votes of the justices for a writ to be issued.
I recently learned something, which if true, is startling. I trust the source, so here goes.
If the petitioner, the loser in the court below, is on the conservative side of the argument, Justice Samuel Alito’s voting record in those cases is 100% in favor of granting the Writ of Certiorari and having the case heard and decided by SCOTUS. If the petitioner is on the liberal side of the argument – that is, the conservatives have already won – his voting record to deny the writ is, you guessed it, 100%.
This can only mean one thing. When conservatives have already won the day, leave it alone and let that be the final word on the subject. If the liberals so far have the win, he wants the opportunity to take the case in hopes of reversing the lower court decision and give the win to the conservatives.
Justice Alito’s robotic reflexes in choosing which cases should come before the court demonstrate absolutely no dedication to the rule of judicial neutrality and a complete lack of civic virtue. He just wants to refashion America in his image. His judicial bias while sitting on the highest court in the land sends a distress signal worthy of flying the flag upside down.
Such a person is not even fit to be a small claims court judge.
Alito and his five co-conspirators committed perjury during their confirmation hearings when they expressed fidelity to the rule of law and stare decisis. Last week, the six of them legalized machine guns. This week they legalized bribery. What’s next? Murder? Perhaps shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue?
This court has long ago forfeited its right to be regarded as a legitimate governmental institution. And that’s not just due to the rampant corruption of Alito and Thomas, but also of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett and the home plate umpire with the variable strike zone, John Roberts.
None of them deserve to be wearing robes made of anything other than Terry cloth.
Well, today the court took regulatory power away from experts at administrative agencies and gave it to Jim Jordan, MTG, Mitch McConnell, and their billionaire, polluter donors. Can you see them regulating air and water quality? Time to buy a gas mask.
As we speak, I’ll bet John Roberts is ordering super-heavy duty filters for the HVAC and water system at the court. And, by the way, another case of stare decisis flushed down the toilet.