Holier Than Thou

Do you remember the Supreme Court case of the wedding cake this spring where it was all fake?

It doesn't matter that there was a fake detail in the case the Supreme Court used to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, experts say
Insider
By Sonam Sheth
July 6, 2023

Democrats and gay rights advocates flew into a frenzy last week when it emerged that a detail in a high-stakes Supreme Court case appeared to be made up.

In a 6-3 decision led by its conservative majority, the high court slashed LGBTQ+ rights when it ruled that a Colorado-based wedding website designer has the right to refuse service to same-sex couples.

Shortly before the ruling dropped, The New Republic reported that an alleged website request cited in the case, from "Stewart and Mike," appears to be fake.

But legal experts say that whether or not the request was fabricated does not affect the ruling, and that the plaintiff in the case, Lorie Smith, had the right to bring the legal challenge regardless of the request.

It was a set up! They designed a case where they knew that the justices were looking for, it had all the bells and whistles that the justices needed… but it was all made up.

Now another case might have been a setup also.

The Supreme Court’s Fake Praying Coach Case Just Got Faker
Slate
By Mark Joseph Stern
September 7, 2023

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a high school football coach’s right to engage in “brief, quiet, personal” prayer—despite photographic evidence that his prayers were drawn-out, loud, and extremely public. At the time, the decision was embarrassing enough, as it rested on the fiction that the coach, Joe Kennedy, was reprimanded for “private religious expression” when he was actually establishing huge prayer circles in the middle of the field. Since then, the situation has only further exposed the shameful artifice of the ruling. At first, Kennedy appeared to have little interest in taking back his old job, which was supposedly what he was fighting for. Then he acknowledged that he had sold his house and moved across the country, with no plans to move back. Finally, on Friday, Kennedy returned to coach one football game. Then he quit, as the Seattle Times reported on Wednesday. He has no evident desire to exercise the rights that his lawyers fought for over years of litigation. Those lawyers, however, will walk away with $1.775 million in attorneys’ fees, paid out by the school district.

Boy what a racket!

Design a case that is just what the conservatives on the Supreme Court are looking for, rack in the money and pass a landmark case.

ADF has a history of relying on shady or fictional clients as an excuse to get into court, as Supreme Court litigator Adam Unikowsky has documented. In 2019, ADF claimed to represent a calligraphy company that refused to make wedding invitations for same-sex couples (though it was never asked). The company emerged shortly before ADF filed a lawsuit on its behalf, and disappeared shortly after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in its favor. Its website was then taken over by an Indonesian casino. ADF also represented a supposed videography company in Minnesota, Telescope Media Group, that did not want to film weddings for same-sex couples. (You guess it: None ever asked.) In 2019, an appeals court issued a preliminary injunction granting it the right to discriminate.

Rather than throw in the towel, Minnesota decided to pursue its hunch that Telescope Media Group was, essentially, not real. It sought discovery that would, among other things, reveal the company’s origins and ongoing business practices, if they existed. ADF abruptly moved to dismiss the case, stating (for the first time) that Telescope Media had pivoted away from wedding videos (it’s unclear if they ever even filmed one). Minnesota resisted, declaring its intent to test ADF’s “highly fanciful allegations” and prove that the group had taken “advantage of the judicial system” and now wished to “avoid the merits of this case.” ADF was so desperate to dodge discovery that it then moved to dismiss the case with prejudice, formally killing it—despite the fact that ADF had won once and was almost guaranteed to win again. Due to this desperate maneuver, the ADF lost out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees. This was done, seemingly, to avoid any more facts coming out about the true nature of its client’s business.

The right-wingers are always yelling “Fake News!” but they have fake legal cases.

*****

Then we have Justice Kavanaugh who is demanding respect for the court.

Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh predicts ‘concrete steps soon’ to address ethics concerns
AP News
By Julie Carr Smyth
September 7, 2023

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh told a judicial conference on Thursday he hopes there will be “concrete steps soon” to address recent ethics concerns surrounding the court, but he stopped short of addressing calls for justices to institute an official code of conduct.

“We can increase confidence. We’re working on that,” Kavanaugh told the conference attended by judges, attorneys and other court personnel in Ohio. He said all nine justices recognize that public confidence in the court is important, particularly now.

Public trust in the court is at a 50-year low following a series of divisive rulings, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade federal abortion protections last year, and published reports about the justices’ undisclosed paid trips and other ethical concerns.

“There’s a storm around us in the political world and the world at large in America,” Kavanaugh said. “We, as judges and the legal system, need to try to be a little more, I think, of the calm in the storm.”

Tell you want, you want more respect for the court then do these three things…

1. Finish the background checks of Justice Kavanuagh that Trump squashed.
2. President Obama’s pick was blocked because his pick was too close to the elections then Justice Barrett should be kicked off the court and President Biden should pick a justice.
3. Last but not lease. Justice Thomas should be impeached on ethics violations.