The Supreme Court’s conservatives, who’ve accepted millions of “gratuities” of their own, have ruled that it’s not a bribe if it’s collected after a favor is done.
By Jim Hightower | July 10, 2024
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
If the six right-wing dogmatists who now literally rule the Supreme Court wonder why 70 percent of the American people consider them somewhere between politically corrupt and grotesque, they might re-read their own Kafkasesque decision last month perverting the meaning of bribery.
Appropriately enough, the case involved garbage trucks.
A small town Indiana mayor had funneled a million-dollar contract for new garbage trucks to a local seller, which then made a $13,000 payoff to the mayor. Obvious graft.
But no, the six supremes decreed that the payoff was not illegal, because it was given to the mayor after the garbage truck contract was issued. Taking money before would be a bribe, they babbled, but money given afterwards is an innocent “gratuity” — like tipping a waiter for good service.
The court’s distortion of kindergarten-level ethics was written by Brett Kavanaugh, infamous for his own frat-boy moral contortions. In his formal opinion, Brett rhetorically asked if such after-the-fact kickbacks should be considered bribes. “The answer,” he proclaimed,” is no.”
Of course, as any reasonable person would tell the black-robed fabricator, the obvious answer is: “Heck yes!”
Kavanaugh even tried to trivialize such official bribery, calling it no more sinister than parents sending a gift basket to thank their child’s teacher for a job well done. Sure — a $13,000 gift basket!
The truck dealer was obviously rewarding the mayor for handing out a million taxpayer dollars to it. Of course, these six supremes aren’t merely defending small potato malfeasance by local officials — they’re creating a legalistic loophole for the court’s own members to keep taking millions of dollars in “gratuities’ from corporate interests seeking judicial favors.
It’s a case of corrupt judges voting to legalize their corruption.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.
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