corruption
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Two Democratic lawmakers requested that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas be criminally investigated for ethics and tax law violations.
According to reports, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland formally requesting that he appoint a special counsel to criminally investigate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for his failure to disclose lavish gifts from wealthy friends who happen to be donors to Republican-backed causes.
“We do not make this request lightly,” the senators wrote in their letter, dated July 3. “Supreme Court justices are properly expected to obey laws designed to prevent conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety and to comply with the federal tax code.”
They specifically asked that the special counsel look into whether Justice Thomas violated federal ethics and tax laws by failing to reveal as income that he received a luxury recreational vehicle with a forgiven debt of $267,000. A representative for Justice Thomas didn’t respond to press inquiries.
The letter goes on to state that Thomas had “repeated opportunities” to explain why he didn’t disclose these gifts to the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s panel overseeing federal courts which Wyden and Whitehouse chair, respectively. Thomas’ actions demonstrate a “willful pattern of disregard for ethics laws,” and they added,
“No government official should be above the law.”
The letter’s publication comes after Justice Thomas was revealed in January to have received substantial gifts from donors such as Harlan Crow in the past such as premium tickets to sporting events and luxury vacations. Thomas’ attorney, , wrote that his client’s earlier disclosure to the committees “fully complied with all judicial disclosure rules on this matter.” Thomas has also come under fire due to his wife, Ginni Thomas’ involvement in efforts to help overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona for Donald Trump.
The request also comes as Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed a motion to impeach Justice Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday (July 11). In her statement, the New York congresswoman wrote that both men’s refusal to recuse themselves from cases “in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements” has led to an “unchecked corruption crisis on the Supreme Court.”
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Meek Mill wasn’t capping when he said his judge was doing him dirty, allegedly. . The same Philadelphia judge who jailed the rapper, and who he essentially accused of having a vendetta against him, has had her criminal cases reassigned, and now she’s suing.
The Philadephia Inquirer reports that Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley has been transferred to civil court and all of the pending criminal cases she was initially tasked with have been reassigned. Brinkley is the same judge who jailed Meek Mill for a parole violation in 2017.
The judge’s behavior while she was overseeing Meek’s case had most anyone taking a look at the details saying she was holding a grudge. For example, in 2018, the Philadelphia District Attorney recommended Meek’s 2008 conviction, for which the rapper at the time was sitting in jail for because of the aforementioned parole violation, should be dismissed. However, Brinkley refused to toss the charges despite the DA noting Meek had already served time for the charges.
“Like many who are currently incarcerated, I was the victim of a miscarriage of justice — carried out by an untruthful officer, as determined by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, and an unfair judge,” said Meek in New York Times op-ed in 2019.
Meek was eventually released on bail, but only after much outcry at the audacity of his treatment by the justice system (the old criminal case was dismissed after he pled guilty to a misdemeanor firearm charge). Flash forward to 2022, and Brinkley’s behavior on the bench is still looking funny in the light, and she’s now claiming that she is the actual victim.
Per the Philadelphia Inquirer:
The unfolding legal battle is the latest chapter in a months-long conflict between Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley and judicial leadership, a feud that began in part over questions about whether Brinkley was showing up to the courthouse on time or managing her caseload effectively. Since the reassignment, lawyers and judges who have reviewed dozens of Brinkley’s cases have discovered a history of her appearing to impose illegal sentences, allow sentences to run past their maximum date, or failing to swiftly address cases remanded to her by higher courts.
This summer, Brinkley, who is Black, filed a gender and racial discrimination complaint against two supervising judges on the court, both of whom are also Black women. And earlier this month, she turned to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court seeking to reverse the decision to reassign her cases, saying in a petition that it “raises unwarranted suspicions about [her] integrity and performance.”
A judge coming under question is a big deal due to the power they wield, deciding to imprison or free someone through what’s supposed to be a lens of justice. Since Brinkley’s transfer, her past cases have come under review by lawyers and judges to see if there are more examples of unseemly judicial behavior. What has been found so far, are numerous cases of lengthy prison terms for suspect parole violations, with many now being outright dismissed, or cases of parolees getting his with the jig.
In the weeks since the reassignment of Brinkley’s cases, lawyers and other judges have been reviewing dozens of matters she presided over and discovered a range of issues. At hearings this month addressing her open probation cases, for example, one lawyer called the situation a “mess.” And Common Pleas Court Judge Mia Perez — who presided over the hearings — was visibly bewildered by some matters that crossed her desk.
In one, Brinkley had sentenced Jeremy Speedling to three years’ probation for a 2019 simple assault and theft. But after Speedling moved to New York, his public defender said, Brinkley sent a letter to his probation officer there changing the terms of his supervision — and then found him in violation and ordered him jailed for 11½ to 23 months.
Brinkley “found [Speedling] in violation for terms he wasn’t aware of,” said the public defender, Elisa Downey-Zayas.
Bruh…
Read the full, disturbing and maddening story right here. Meek picked an inopportune time to leave Twitter, eh?
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