Remedies For a Sick and Diseased and Dangerous Supreme Court

We ended the Sunday DM with this question: “Can anyone say ‘conflict of interest’? It sort of, kind of, applies to any court anywhere, it seems to me, to try to avoid conflict of interest and appearances of the same. The current Supreme Court obviously doesn’t give a damn.

“All In With Chris Hayes” reports on Leonard Leo’s influence upon key conservative figures. Video by MSNBC.

I listed in my Saturday DM the severe conflicts of interest that the current SC is sporting publicly and shamelessly and in our face on a regular basis.

Among them are conflicts of interest regarding at least two wives of the court; the conflict of interest with Leonardo Leo the judge-maker for six of the SC justices; the conflict of interest with two justices who have been hobnobbing with activist Republican billionaires with cases before the SC taking free gifts of yacht trips, private plane trips, a house bought for one’s mother, etc. etc. worth hundreds of thousands of dollars without reporting it.

Cars and drivers in the 2020 “Rev Up the Vote” rally. Photo by Anthony Rider. Wikimedia Commons.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett gave lectures on five occasions to the very hate group that actively assisted the recent court victory of Lorie Smith. The SC gave carte blanche to any businessperson to deny services to any group of people they hate. They are also free apparently to make up the person they hate from such a group. 

Sound strange? It is. As President Biden put it, “this is not a normal Supreme Court.”

What to do about it? I received the following letter from a DM reader on Saturday evening. “You seem angry Rev Fox. I am too, and I believe it’s righteous anger. Now how do we get some righteous remedy to the situation?”

Some of the remedies it seems to me are as follows:

From the 2008 election, three youth encourage their elders to get out and vote — while keeping up their strength with pizza. Photo by Collin Knopp-Schwyn. Wikimedia Commons.

1) Vote, organize to vote, and make sure others vote for senators and presidents who do not propose creeps with mini-minds and mini-ethics for the SC. 

2) Push the current Senate to move and move fast to establish legal guidelines for the SC, including spelling out a process whereby a justice must recuse themselves from a case, and a third party to determine compliance.

3) Expand the court to match the number of district courts in the country, i.e. 13, since this was the basis of the original number of court justices. The numbers on the SC have changed six times in history. Number seven is urgent and necessary. 

4) Urge the press to be more diligent in reporting and examining the SC.


See Matthew Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.

To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE

Banner Image: The Supreme Court photographed for the first time in 1867. Left to Right: Daniel Wesley Middleton (Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States), Justices David Davis, Noah Haynes Swayne, Robert Cooper Grier, James Moore Wayne, Salmon P. Chase (Chief Justice of the United States), Samuel Nelson, Nathan Clifford, Samuel Freeman Miller, Stephen Johnson Field. Photo by Alexander Gardner. Wikimedia Commons



Queries for Contemplation

What remedies do you propose for the current SC crisis? What about the four proposed here?


Recommended Reading

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics


Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE or scroll to the bottom of the page.

Share this meditation

Facebook
Twitter
Email

Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox is made possible through the generosity of donors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation

Search Meditations

Categories

Categories

Archives

Archives

Receive our daily meditations

9 thoughts on “Remedies For a Sick and Diseased and Dangerous Supreme Court”

  1. Barbara de Souza

    Do all of them! But a lot will depend on who becomes President for a Trump as President would be ruination of the USA!
    That is the first issue – the 2nd is get conservative Republicans out of office.The Democrats would have to take the presidency, the house and the senate! And the Democrats are too. Quiet! What is the matter with them ?

  2. Yes to these ideas. I strongly suggest legislation is passed to remove all
    dark money from politics and thereby judicial influence.
    The Supreme Court has legalized political bribery and influence in Citizens United
    and other decisions that opened the doors to corruption.

  3. Jeanette Metler

    Man made laws only have power when people comply and conform to them. What if collectively, people courageously refused to do so, exercising their free will choice; due to the knowledge of injustice and corruption that these man made laws have been founded upon.

    Unified nonviolent resistance and the power of solidarity carries within it the possibility of destabilizing the foundations of the institutional structure, from the bottom up. This requires organization, which these unjust and corrupt institutions have not only well established amongst themselves but are also counting on the resistors to fail in. When people choose to courageously resist, in solidarity, in an organized manner; taking a stand against corruption and injustice; chaos ensues, and out of this chaos comes change and transformation; albeit slow and often painfull for all involved.

    Is this short term pain persevered through, not more beneficial for the common good of the whole, rather than the long term pain of complying and conforming to unjust and corrupt man made laws and the governing institutions that choose to misuse and abuse their positions of authority and power; which seeks to oppress and suppress the unfolding evolution of humane acts of love, compassion, mercy and justice for all from emerging?

    Jesus, Ghandi, MLK and many others believed so. Individually and collectively, humanities conscience, heart, mind and soul, is being pierced with this arrow of making a choice!

  4. I’ve heard fascism described as government by corporations and that certainly rings true today.
    A minority of powerful interests control 2 out of 3 branches of government and the other executive branch seems to be stubbornly resisting change to the court. That leaves us with just loudly opposing the status quo. I’d add that to the remedies you suggested. All of which are necessary and would address the problem. They all require ACTION from the timid other 2 branches.
    I’d add Impeachment of judges who flout the ethical standards that they know they should be observing.

  5. Very good proposals Matthew for our federal legislators to reform our Supreme Court!

    Our Divine Spirit of LOVE~WISDOM~TRUTH~PEACE~JUSTICE~HEALING~TRANSFORMATION~CREATIVITY~ COMPASSION…. IS PRESENT within, through, among Us daily to help/grace our souls, our societies, and our beautiful Sacred Mother Earth and all Her graceful abundances to continue evolving eternally, physically and non-physically, in All our spiritual dimensions….

  6. In regards to the “Remedies For a Sick and Diseased and Dangerous Supreme Court”, I suggest a 5th possible remedy. Limit the terms of Supreme Court Justices to 18 years with staggered terms so a new Justice would be appointed every 2 years. This would allow each President the opportunity to appoint 2 Supreme Court Justices making the motivation to vote even more real.

    I also think the U.S. Supreme Court needs to develop a code of ethics and/or be compelled to followed the same code as other federal judges do. https://www.uscourts.gov/rules-policies/judiciary-policies/ethics-policies

  7. I agree with the proposals but repeat that there is really no excuse for both the media, especially the press, and the lawyers fighting the fake anti-LGBQT+ case to have neglected due diligence , which should have led to exposing the fraud. Maybe they will learn something from this sad experience. That being said, one of the strategies of the anti-democratic forces is to tie up in court as many issues as possible; this exhausts both human and material resources.
    It is interesting that one of the pictured justices, Salmon P. Chase, was the only one ever impeached, although he stayed on the bench. It is also interesting that the justices served on circuit courts back then, and the charges were based on those. ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Samuel_Chase Reading this article is like reading the newspaper today with the same issues, except that today the political bias and corruption are much, much worse. There should be impeachments of the majority of those on the bench today, but it won’t happen.

Leave a Comment

To help moderate the volume of responses, the Comment field is limited to 1500 characters (roughly 300 words), with one comment per person per day.

Please keep your comments focused on the topic of the day's Meditation.

As always, we look forward to your comments!!
The Daily Meditation Team

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join us in meditation that supports your compassionate action

Receive Matthew Fox's Daily Meditation by subscribing below: