Dwain Northey (Gen X)
Weren’t elected officials supposed to be beyond reproach? I thought that those appointed to lifetime positions absolutely had to be of the highest quality and beyond reproach.
I know that this is an old term, and many don’t know what it means so here is definition.
Beyond Reproach such that no criticism can be made; perfect.
“his integrity is beyond reproach”
With the current Supreme Court this ideal has been completely dissolved, that is unless the appointment is made by a Democratic President.
Current Justices Appointed by Democrats:
Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice
Bronx-born Sotomayor attended Princeton University and Yale Law School, before going on to work as assistant district attorney for the New York County District Attorney’s Office between 1979 and 1984. After going into commercial law at Pavia & Harcourt between 1984 and 1992, President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.
President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 26, 2009, and she took her seat on August 8, 2009.
Her appointment was held to a very high standard and her integrity was questioned by the Republicans mostly because of her race.
Elena Kagan, associate justice
Obama nominated Kagan as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on May 10, 2010. She took her seat on August 7, 2010. She has repeatedly voted in favor of abortion rights.
Prior to that, she was Solicitor General of the United States and served for four years in the Clinton Administration.
No scandals since being confirmed still had a hard process because of the 60 vote threshold.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
On the court since: 3 October 2022
How she got to the court: The first black woman to sit on the court in its 233-year history is also the first justice since 1967 to come to the court with extensive experience as a criminal defence attorney. Before the US Supreme Court, the Washington DC native served on the influential US court of Appeals for the DC circuit. She has two degrees from Harvard University and once served as editor of the Harvard Law Review. Ms Jackson has said she has a “methodology” to deciding cases but not an overarching philosophy. Some conservatives have accused her of being “soft” on criminals, pointing to her experience as a public defender and willingness as a federal judge to issue prison sentences below federal guidelines.
Her confirmation came after President Biden pledged during his presidential campaign to appoint a black woman to the top court.
Her confirmation was a simple majority because Mitch McConnel blew up the filibuster for Justices.
Those the 3 of 9 that are from Democratic Presidents.
Trump had 3 appointments in his short time in the Oval Office.
Neil M. Gorsuch, associate justice
Gorsuch was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump, assuming his seat on April 10, 2017. He previously taught at the University of Colorado Law school, and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. In his 10 year-tenure on Colorado’s 10th Circuit, he never ruled on abortion rights.
Was only appointed because Mitch McConnel held the seat open for nearly a year not allowing President Obama his right to fill the vacated seat.
Currently on the hot seat for an unreported real estate deal that sat on the market for years and miraculously sold to a partner in a large law firm that had cases in front of the court after Gorsuch was appointed.
Brett M. Kavanaugh, associate justice
Trump nominated Kavanaugh as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on October 6, 2018.
He was previously Associate Counsel and then Senior Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush, and Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary for Bush. In 2006, he was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Kavanaugh has consistently supported abortion restrictions.
Who cried during his confirmation and is rightfully accused of sexual assault.
Amy Coney Barrett, associate justice
Barrett was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was nominated by Trump as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. She took her seat on October 27, 2020.
She was previously a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and before that she was a law professor at Notre Dame Law School, Indiana.
Barrett has previously argued that abortions aren’t necessary because women can always give their babies up for adoption.
Although she was praised by Republicans for being the first anti-abortion female judge appointed to the bench and is outspoken about her Catholic faith, Barrett so far has not revealed much about her views on Roe v. Wade.
Rushed confirmation after the death of RGB while the 2020 election was in progress, a 100% reversal of the ‘rule’ McConnel had put in place for President Obama.
Longer serving Justices appointed by Republicans.
Clarence Thomas, associate justice
President George Bush Sr. nominated Thomas as an associate justice and he took his seat on October 23, 1991.
The Georgia native worked as assistant secretary for civil rights, U.S. Department of Education and chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the 1980s. Between 1990 and 1991, he served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Thomas has previously tried to say that abortion rights were opened by the eugenics movement —a debunked theory from the early 1900s that said white Caucasians had superior genes. However, an author of one of the main works that Thomas cited about abortion discredited the judge’s claims in an article for The Atlantic.
Thomas is the longest serving Justice and is currently under scrutiny over non reported very pricy gifts and vacations from a wealthy republican doner. His excuse is that the reporting forms were complicated, and he misread them. I was under the impression that he was a judge and adept in legal paperwork.
Samuel A. Alito, associate justice
George W. Bush nominated Alito as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat on January 31, 2006.
Alito was previously appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1990. He also has previous stints working for the U.S. Department of Justice.
The leaked majority opinions to strike back Roe v. Wade was written by Alito, who said it was “egregiously wrong from the start.”
John Roberts, chief justice of the United States
Robert is a conservative judge who was appointed by George W. Bush as chief justice of the court in 2005, taking his seat on September 29 that year.
The New York-born judge was previously United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2003, and formerly served as an associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan and in the White House. Later, between 1989 and 1993, he was the principal deputy solicitor general at the U.S Department of Justice.
He as of late does not seem to have any control of his court.
Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barret are by no means beyond reproach and have for the first time in history taken a rights away from citizens.
The standard for justices has to be higher and the court need to be expanded, it has been done in the past and need to be done now. There are 13 district courts so by my logic there should be 13 Supreme Court Justices.
Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void 