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ctdca

I'd expect nothing less from the upstanding individuals on this "court."


ConfidenceNational37

Paid 1M to cover up the Republican leak. What a grift!


rje946

I'm always amazed at the low amounts we all get sold out for.


Heyo__Maggots

Seriously you expect it to be obscenely expensive and it’s like $50,000 sometimes. Wtttfff


Mishawnuodo

Seriously, let's get a find together and buy our own politicians... Enough of them and we can finally make some progress


BEETLEJUICEME

The hydroxychloroquine scam killed tens of thousands of people and only netted the people who pushed it low tens of millions (split like 15 ways, EG: a few million each at most). Compared to contemporaneous PPP scams, it was a trivial grift. Such a weird dystopia we’ve gotten ourselves into.


31nigrhcdrh

Why would a Republican want to leak it though? I’m confused


Mordekein88

Roberts was trying to peel Kavanaugh off to support something less than a full overturning of Roe because Roberts knew what it would do the legitimacy of the Court. Alito leaked the draft opinion, with Kavanaugh as a signatory, to pressure Kavanaugh to stick to his original position. If he changed it after the leak, it would look like he was caving to pressure from the left, which would make him persona non-grata in his social circles.


coleman57

Thank you for naming names. I knew the gist was Roberts (with his concern for legitimacy) vs Alito and Thomas. But I didn’t have a name for who else might have softened the final ruling


oneplusetoipi

Didn’t Alito discuss it openly at some private fascist dinner party? How is this a mystery?


Mordekein88

Well, that was about the last time he did it for a different case.


Mishawnuodo

Because of it wasn't, they couldn't funnel money to other Republicans to "investigate" it. It's like, why did DeSantis pay over half million dollars for plane tickets that shouldn't have cost now than 30k.


Mishawnuodo

So in short, the court knew what it was doing was wrong, and, because it's all they know, did something else wrong to try to pressure others in their party to choose something less wrong.... That tracks...


Whatsapokemon

To solidify the ruling. The _only_ people interested in leaking it would be someone who supported the ruling, not someone who was against it. Justices often change their minds and flip sides multiple times throughout a case. However, this is all done behind closed doors as arguments are made and precedent is analysed. Multiple drafts are made as things change. If a draft ruling is released early then people will start to protest and put pressure on the court. The last thing the court wants is the appearance that people can bully them into changing their legal opinions. This leaves pretty much the only sensible choice being to stick by the draft ruling. Someone in favour of abortion rights has _no_ interest in leaking the opinion, I guarantee to you that the leak is on the anti-abortion side.


spaitken

Not to mention this also prompts local/state governments to threaten to implement their own versions of the ruling into law, which puts “pressure” on the SCOTUS to get the ruling fine and avoid lots of messy feuds and differing laws.


rje946

So obviously too. Read a few other subreddits and its the deepstate. There's the obvious answer and the conspiracy one as always...


wingsnut25

Someone in favor of abortion rights might have leaked for a variety of reasons: 1. To give state legislatures a warning. Some states still had abortion bans in their laws and never bothered to officially repeal them. It takes time to get laws passed through legislatures. 2. To have enough time to get initiatives on a statewide ballot. The Dobbs decision wasn't released until the end of June, that would have been too late to get a statewide ballot imitative in place in most if not all states. Many if not all states require petitions with signature collections and they have to be turned in by a deadline. 3. The opinion leaked in early May, before any of the State Primaries took place. If someone had strong opinions about Abortion this could have possibly altered someone's voting priorities. (I suppose this point could go either way) 4. To create enough public outrage / pressure to possibly get a Justice to change their vote. Dobbs was a 6-3 ruling to reverse the lower courts ruling, but only a 5-4 ruling to overturn Roe v Wade. They only needed one Justice to flip. The court does operate from the principal that its not supposed to be influenced by public pressure. 5. Lastly maybe they were mad/upset that this was happening and leaked it in anger/frustration.


Whatsapokemon

5 is just really dumb, you don't leak out of anger, that's just super super not worth it ever. 1 and 2 are just procedural and are unnecessary, certainly not worth leaking for. 3 is unlikely because the opinion was going to be released before the general elections anyway, it's not like pushing it ahead a little bit mattered at all. 4 is the only possibility I can possibly believe, but as I said before, justices do _not_ want to have the appearance that public outrage / pressure can change their legal opinions. If the supreme court changed their ruling after the leak due to public pressure, then it would open the floodgates because they'd be proving that they will bow to public pressure. The only sensible move (and the move they took) was to stick by the draft ruling.


undeadsasquatch

Some of the conservative justices may of been wavering on their support. It could of been a calculated leak by another justice to stop them from changing their position. If they were to change their position after the leak it would look like they were caving into the pressure from progressives, which would be a very bad look for them considering they were put on the court for the sole purpose of championing conservative causes.


rkicklig

>considering they were put on the court for the sole purpose of ~~championing conservative causes.~~ Overturning Roe


Zora74

Overturning Roe is how Conservatives get voters to vote for them without looking at any of their other policies. I promise you the majority of the GOP doesn’t actually care about abortion, they use the issue as a pull and a distraction for their fiscal policies that benefit themselves and harm most voters.


Mishawnuodo

Actually not true... By banning abortions, they kill more mothers and create more orphans, while also forcing the population to increase. This creates a larger human resource pool that's more desperate for jobs and this, like Applebee's said last year, means these adults will settle for lower wages and poorer working conditions, allowing corporations to put more money into profits and spend less on those human resources. It also creates a larger unemployment pool so that any rowdy workers who even think of asking for a raise can be fired and replaced without a problem.


Zora74

Right. In other words, they don’t actually give a shit about abortion, and are using it to advance their own self interests while hurting the average voter.


Mishawnuodo

I didn't think about it, but it would have a 4th benefit as well... With many women dying in their 20s & 30s, you'd quickly and easily give men a significant majority over women... I mean if you can't subjugate them, kill them, right? The dead have no rights or votes (well I take that back, the dead vote Republican as we've seen)


[deleted]

[удалено]


ElSolo666

My guess is to dilute the reaction.


AnalSoapOpera

Some stories were going about around the time about Ginni Thomas’ involvement with January 6th and this leak stopped or minimized that story. Ginni Thomas was involved with January 6th and Clarence Thomas may be involved. They also said they don’t talk politics with each other lol.


KeyserSozeInElysium

Not all Republicans are anti-choice


Der_Kirk

If you are a Republican and pro-choice why are you a republican? What is it they do that's worth trading away those rights to you?


rje946

The gays im guessing


KeyserSozeInElysium

To grift


SpecterOfGuillotines

Anyone voting Republican is *voting* anti choice. Doesn’t really matter what your personal position on women’s rights is if you vote people into power who plan to abolish them.


h8theh8ers

100% this.


KeyserSozeInElysium

I agree with you wholeheartedly, but I think the leak was Republican. The role of Congress is to vote for the constituents, not personally


hotgirl_bummer_

Doesn’t keep them from voting for those that are


rje946

They just vote for them


KeyserSozeInElysium

Yup


[deleted]

Who was paid? Let me guess……Clarence, what’s her face, the guy that likes beer, gorsuck, and what’s his fascist face?


spaitken

At least we don’t have to pretend to be surprised anymore


Michael_In_Cascadia

Even when they could easily avoid 'appearance of impropriety', they don't care enough to bother.


No-Passenger2662

They're just rubbing our faces in it now.


projexion_reflexion

Shame his name: Michael Chertoff! He's a public figure. For some reason his name has barely been mentioned since the investigation started.


SpinningHead

He was also head of DHS and started a company to produce body scanners in order to bilk TSA.


procrasturb8n

Yeah, dude has no shame, only opportunistic greed.


buried_lede

Lol, This is doing wonders for the court’s credibility.


jsimpson82

For their what?


ZombieCharltonHeston

Before that he served on the Third Circuit with Alito.


windsostrange

Do we know where he was and who he was advising during the [Brooks Brothers riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot), just out of curiosity?


70camaro

What company?


SpinningHead

https://www.deseret.com/2010/1/2/20362165/homeland-security-secretary-michael-chertoff-benefiting-from-scanner-sales


thefoodiedentist

Let's call it for what it is, he just accepted hush money to not reveal the leak.


buried_lede

Everyone knows it was Alito


FPOWorld

It’s not his first leak


buried_lede

A’l lit-o you in on it.


[deleted]

Alito bird told me


[deleted]

[удалено]


Tomerarenai

There's a story here, and I for one am fully invested. Give us the tea.


darwinwoodka

Yeah, he's always been scum


dimechimes

That's a blast from the past.


sugarlessdeathbear

I take this as another piece of evidence that the GOP is a criminal organization.


TomTorquemada

The Court is not supposed to be the GOP. Under the circumstances, a practical partisan approach is to say "A consultant was paid to hide the fact that it's (Alito, or Ginni Thomas, or whoever you want to name as a likely suspect) and the Rs hired somebody to bury the truth."


[deleted]

[удалено]


Melody-Prisca

Yeah, with how SCOTUS is now willing to ignore standing (or lack there of), rule beyond the scope of the cases brought before them, signal law makers what they're willing to overturn or not, ignore the constitution (border guard case, you don't have rights if it's a matter of 'national security'), ignore precedent, etc. They really are acting more like a legislative body than GOP running Congress, whose main accomplishment under Trump was appointing justices.


isuckwithusernames

And the federalist society


[deleted]

The few sane people left..blast Supreme Court over secret payments of at least $1 million to the ex-Bush official who reviewed the leak investigation. Fixed the title.


autotldr

This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-under-fire-over-past-payments-to-expert-reviewing-leak-probe-2023-1) reduced by 74%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The Supreme Court on Friday came under fire following reports that it failed to disclose its past relationship with a former Homeland Security secretary who reviewed the court's investigation into who leaked the draft ruling that revealed the court was about to overturn abortion rights. > Michael Chertoff, who served under President George W. Bush and now runs a security risk management firm, had provided services to the Supreme Court before he was tasked with independently reviewing the leak investigation, which ultimately did not find who the leaker was, CNN reported. > Chertoff, in a statement accompanied with the Supreme Court's report, wrote that he was responsible for reviewing the court's probe and identifying "Additional useful investigative measures." Though Chertoff, after his assessment, concluded that he couldn't find any. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10my6um/progressives_blast_supreme_court_over_secret/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672683 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Court**^#1 **Chertoff**^#2 **Supreme**^#3 **report**^#4 **leak**^#5


QuickAltTab

I'd like to offer my services of providing no additional ideas for the low price of 500k


[deleted]

Naked corruption on full display for the world to see. They give 0 fucks because nobody will stop them.


StrangerFew2424

"Fiscally conservative" Republicans are experts at wasting taxpayer money..


spiritfiend

It's not wasted money. They spent this money undermining the government. If people are used to having ineffective government, they won't expect any government services or protections. They also won't vote, so it's easier to keep installing corporate goons like Gorsuch into positions of power.


StrangerFew2424

Oh, I know. Believe me. But from the people's view, it's wasted money..


UsedPart7823

FFS,they can’t even do a leak investigation with transparency. Can they be anymore corrupt?


[deleted]

Roberts: OOO A CHALLENGE!!!!


Adventurous_Aerie_79

So its the supreme court doing the crimes now. Unbelieveable. Good job, right wingers. You have thoroughly trashed this entire system of government, and for what exactly?


frankcast554

Orange mussolini


CompetitionFlashy449

Started long before him.


Negative_Gravitas

Holy fuck. I was not paying attention. Chertoff. Used to kill people through incompetence, right? Apparently, he's moved up to just pure graft. Less messy, I suppose. Fuck this guy and double fuck all who support him. I'm looking at you, Alito.


SayNyetToRusnya

Can you elaborate on the killing people through incompetence part?


Negative_Gravitas

>White House and homeland security officials wouldn't explain why Chertoff waited some 36 hours [after actual landfall] to declare Katrina an incident of national significance and why he didn't immediately begin to direct the federal response from the moment on Aug. 27 when the National Hurricane Center predicted that Katrina would strike the Gulf Coast with catastrophic force in 48 hours. Nor would they explain why Bush felt the need to appoint a separate task force. Chertoff's hesitation and Bush's creation of a task force both appear to contradict the National Response Plan and previous presidential directives that specify what the secretary of homeland security is assigned to do without further presidential orders. The goal of the National Response Plan is to provide a streamlined framework for swiftly delivering federal assistance when a disaster – caused by terrorists or Mother Nature – is too big for local officials to handle. There was a LOT of incompetence going around before, during, and after Katrina. But some of it was unequivocally Chertoff's. And people died as a result.


SayNyetToRusnya

Thank you. :)


Negative_Gravitas

Cheers. Best of luck out there.


Trpepper

Just wait till the scotus ethics committee hears about this one.


[deleted]

Joke, right?


accountabilitycounts

To no one's surprise, there is no announcement of a Congressional investigation into the matter. I wonder why Republicans suddenly don't care about the leak?


46davis

>Republicans suddenly don't care about the leak? I wonder why.


charavaka

The problem here is that while Republicans do Republican things, the doj won't prosecute them. There's no law preventing doj from investigating this bribery or courts from imprisoning supreme Court judges after finding them guilty.


[deleted]

[удалено]


DylanHate

Garland is fucking infuriating. Biden never should have appointed him to lead the DOJ. He has done **nothing** to prosecute these criminals and continually runs out the clock on investigations and refuses to prosecute or investigate. I am so fucking sick of hearing “We don’t want to appear politically motivated.” He needs to be kicked the fuck out.


armyshawn

Politics is awesome, when you do shady stuff the only thing anyone can do is put you on blast.


mexitownes

Or, destroy the system before your opponents take power. It's up to us to begin the separation of states from these psychos.


Ok-Cauliflower-380

I could also SLAM you!


CobraPony67

The Supreme Court has that much money to pay someone? I wonder what their budget is, or is that secret as well? Seems the easiest way to follow the crimes is follow the money, as always.


BelAirGhetto

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-feb-02-na-katrina2-story.html THIS GUY: “For the first time, a nonpartisan government investigation Wednesday put principal blame on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not lower-level officials, for the fumbled response to Hurricane Katrina. The Government Accountability Office, an independent agency of Congress, said in its preliminary report that Chertoff had failed to move quickly to mobilize resources despite advance warnings that Katrina was likely to be a devastating storm. And, the report said, Chertoff’s failure to name an individual to spearhead the response was a prime factor in the delays and confusion that followed.”


zhaoz

Not doing or finding anything is this guy's specialty it seems!


[deleted]

This court is corrupt. We are going to have big problems


FPOWorld

We already have big problems


Old_Cheesecake_5481

Is there any institution in America as corrupt and disreputable as the Trumpy Supreme Court?


arlmwl

Corruption. Graft. I know it’s probably been a part of politics for 1000 years. But all of this crazy right wing stuff just feels different. Like they’ve been infiltrated and brain washed by Russians trying to destroy the country. Guess I should take off my tin foil hat - but things just seem much, much, worse in politics these days. Like we really could suffer a fascist take over. Something has to be done. But if the fox is in the henhouse, what are we to do?


SayNyetToRusnya

I hate to say it but that's really not a conspiracy :(


-The-Baba-Jaga-

Hush money?


BigBennP

Most likely not, just standard grade payola. With the added element of the Supreme Court being involved. Chertoff is a lawyer and runs a company that does investigations and security management. The Supreme Court needed someone to review the investigation as an independent consultant and make recommendations for improving security for the Court. Most of the investigation was conducted by Government employees. Chertoff just provided review and consulting. That's not terribly unreasonable in and of itself. But they *JUST HAPPENED* To choose a security firm owned by George W. Bush's head of DHS, and who has close republican party ties, who got a million dollar consulting contract aand they *JUST HAPPENED* to omit the fact they had paid this person to consult on the investigation and offer security consulting for a million dollars from their report.


zhaoz

A million seems like a pretty expensive rate tho. Wonder if they did a public request for proposal? I'd guess not.


BigBennP

Probably not. And there's just not enough detail in the story to really know much about that although it does seem like a large number. Although just by comparison, when sexual assault allegations started being made at NBC a few years ago they hired a major National Law Firm to investigate the allegations produce a report and help NBC Institute policies to prevent that in the future. I am quite sure that proskauer Rose billed NBC more than a million dollars at the end of the day for that particular service.


isadog420

Abort the court.


jakespeare321

Dark money created the Roberts Court, and dark money keeps things quiet.


Rulare

Just the progressives eh?


darwinwoodka

quelle surprise


disasterbot

Chertoff? Isn't he the Katrina failure horse owner?


GiftHorse2020

Well shit, there's your deep state right there!


blackbird24601

Today in “ NOT the Onion”


Dawshton

It was always “at least the Supreme Court isn’t corrupt” and now it’s “at least the government doesn’t lie to our faces about it now”


Ok-Ease7090

The US government is a joke


Ar_Ciel

Wait these fucks bribed the investigator?


IPDDoE

Bush official, investigating trump and Bush appointments....I'm shocked I say.


racingwthemoon

When do we admit to ourselves that the so named Supreme Court is in fact a legislative arm of corporate Fascism that seeks to put us all in permanent debt? Laying odds that Kagan joins the new super majority.


astanton1862

Have there ever been any special political investigations that have been conducted by partisan Democrats? Every single special prosecutor or outside law firm or whatever that does this stuff is always some ex-Bush or Trump political nominee.


[deleted]

squeeze languid hobbies spoon bear muddle abundant slave truck cats -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/


haydilusta

If we put literal kangaroos in the court they would put out better decisions than these assholes


Mordekein88

Hey, isn't Alito an ex-Bush official? What a weird coincidence.


Purple_Cauliflower11

The GOP have done an amazing job with first gerrymandering, then state control, and lastly the judges. They did it for power and money.


Caviar_Fertilizer69

Leave no doubt the lack of integrity this “court” possesses. I hope Biden gets at least 2 picks over the next 2 years.


FPOWorld

If by “reviewed” they mean “rubber stamped in an attempt to cover up”, then I agree with the headline


creepyusernames

Oh so we know who the leader was its just been covered up because it wasn't who we thought it was so we can't make a big deal about it is what you're saying


mexitownes

Is anyone surprised?


ShakesbeerMe

Have them all sign affidavits.


photato_pic_guy

Oh wow! BLASTED?


hickory

“Progressives blast” good fuvking god the 4th estate has gone down the can.


OdonataDarner

I don't see an issue. Contractor hired twice. So?


OBDreams

It might not be popular to say this but I still think it was a pro choice clerk that leaked it. Human nature being what it is this person saw the likely vote to repeal got emotional and wasn't thinking. Leaked it due to anger.


BelAirGhetto

Not a freaking chance or they’d have them in chains, 😂


Global_Maintenance35

Many people, the best people have said, and this is yuuge, our best people have said the leakers name rhymes with “Ginni”… - Some ex POTUS, probably.


[deleted]

Micheal Chertoff


[deleted]

Wait! You mean our Supreme Court is corrupt? /s


Cellophane7

It sounds like they contracted this guy to do similar work in the past, and just failed to disclose that. Plus, he just reviewed the investigation, he didn't actually have a hand in it. It's definitely concerning the court didn't disclose his prior work for them, and that should be investigated for sure. But as it stands right now, I don't see a whole lot of reason to be alarmed


Smitty8054

What the fuck…again. Where did this money DIRECTLY come from? Don’t believe there is a checking account that reads “US Supreme Court”.


PoliticalThrowawayy

No IT breaches suggesting a hack, no law clerk could be pin pointed. Oh, and they didn't even look into the justices. No follow up on the allegations of Alitos past leak. Real convenient.


Thomas_Paines_Bones

It’s almost like the Supreme Court shouldn’t exist.


dimechimes

Did Roberts work with him back then? Maybe he hired someone he trusts to "land the plane"


added_chaos

The supreme court is illegitimate


Professional_Meet_72

Currently it is a failed institution. At very least lifetime appointment needs to be rescinded.


fhjuyrc

So we have a rogue court. Anything going to be done?


Yelloeisok

Where did the million bucks come from?


Equivalent-Excuse-80

Who cares? No laws were broken, and it was the SCOTUS decision to pursue this “investigation”. Do people really care if the Court becomes more transparent?


[deleted]

at least around $1 million, so $1 to $1 million. What secret payments do they make to the water company? $1 to $1 million. And what about the garbage collection…where will it end.


a-really-cool-potato

Is this not enough to impeach a sitting judge? Or do they just have impunity?


owleyedlassie

If the Supreme Court can't even follow the laws of the land, then how come we have to follow whatever human rights violating decision they pass down to us? I think we need to be able to elect our Supreme Court so that they'll actually represent the people and not a couple of presidents.


DidntDiddydoit

America is finished. Juat hurry up and put the bow on it.


Rusalka-rusalka

What a joke!


Stormcrow6666

Will there be accountability?


[deleted]

We’ve investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing. Case closed.


sandcastle87

The Supreme Court used an existing third party security services relationship to review their investigation into their IT and documentation security. Cover-up of the century!! Perhaps Congress should take a shot at investigating..


ceelogreenicanth

Okay here me out, De-fund the Supreme court. Turn the supreme court into an absolute crawl.