The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for July, 2024

We've made it halfway through the year - an accomplishment in itself in years like this - but the second half of the year beckons with a threatening, skeletal finger. We'll start the second six months of 2024's Ass Clown awards with today's sad presentation of 

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for July, 2024

to (for the second time)

The Conservative Wing of the Supreme Court

(Justices Roberts, Thomas, Alito,

Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett)

It was a mere two months ago that this same group received this award*, and I find it depressing in the extreme that I can justify presenting it to them again so soon and with so much reason.

Nearly 250 years after the Founders declared the independence of the United States from a distant, all-powerful king, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court voted (6-3) to turn the office of the presidency into a de facto kingship by determining in the case of Donald J. Trump v United States that the president has, for all practical purposes, total immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. And by delaying until the last possible moment to release the decision, the conservative majority has handed Der Furor the priceless gift of ensuring that he will not face trial on a wide range of charges before the 2024 election.

In another decision - Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo - the court ruled (6-3) that courts are required to exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether a regulatory agency has acted within its statutory authority, and ruled that courts may not defer to an agency interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous. Don't worry about the ability of federal agencies to ensure that our air and water are clean, our food is wholesome, our drugs are safe, and our roads and skies able safely to be traversed ... I'm quite sure our courts are well-stocked with subject matter experts who can do the job.

In yet another decision - Snyder v United States - the court ruled (6 to 3) that gratuities paid to a government official after an action favorable to a petitioner are not considered a bribe ...

"Although a gratuity or reward offered and accepted by a state or local official after the official act may be unethical or illegal under other federal, state, or local laws, the gratuity does not violate [18 U. S. C. §666**]."

Yes, your government is officially for sale.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown Award for July, 2024, is presented to the conservative majority of the Supreme Court in acknowledgement of it's leading role in overturning decades - if not centuries - of American jurisprudence in favor of a deeply conservative political agenda.

And we have not mentioned the 2022 (6-3) decision in the case Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, which took away women's rights under the earlier Roe v Wade decision.

Have a good day, and remember that your vote in November will be critical to the future makeup of the Supreme Court. Use it wisely.

More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

P.S. - I should note that this award is being presented on July 12th, which can be expressed as "7-12." If you have read the novel "The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton, you may recall that mention was made of "Directive 7-12" ... a last-ditch method of using a nuclear bomb to cauterize an area infected with extraterrestrial bacteria. One might interpret the Supreme Court, as presently constituted, as a conservative Directive 7-12 aimed at cauterizing what the right views as the infection of liberal freedom and thought.

* The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2024.

** "Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds."