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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 4, 2023

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I haven't read much about the code of conduct in particular, just that there is one, but in general I think it's a cudgel to be used against the conservative justices, because that's how its implementation has been characterized.

You don't explicitly lay out how a code of conduct that applies to everyone equally is biased against Conservative justices. Is it because you think conservative media outlets are incapable of doing investigative journalism? That only Conservative justices are likely to violate said code of conduct? That everyone is corrupt, but the public/congress will selectively pressure corrupt Conservative justices?

If it came out that, say, Soros was buying houses and fancy vacations for some of the liberal justices I'd anticipate Fox News, talk radio and the Matt Gaetz' of the world would convulse in a collective orgasm and talk about it nonstop for the next three months. Do you disagree?

You don't explicitly lay out how a code of conduct that applies to everyone equally is biased against Conservative justices.

There is no such code of conduct. A leftist justice could have an absolutely egregious conflict of interest, and the New York Times and Washington Post and NPR and CNN would carry water for them. Sure, conservative media would complain, but no one cares what they think anyway.

No, there is a code of conduct. A conservative judge could have an absolutely egregious conflict of interest and fox news, conservative talk radio and boomer facebook would carry water for them.

But nobody cares what the conservative media thinks. That's the essential asymmetry. A conservative judge could be pressured into recusing himself by the NYT/WP/CNN/NPR (directly or indirectly); a leftist judge cannot be pressured by the conservative media.

Tens of millions of people care what conservative media thinks, and they vote accordingly. A conservative judge couldn't be pressured into recusing themselves by the media.

Too bad the country has hundreds of millions of people, and the ones in Washington DC (even the conservatives, by and large) aren't among those who care what conservative media thinks. Nobody who could put pressure on a Supreme Court justice cares what conservative media thinks. Sotomayor could participate in a case that her daughter was involved in and nobody in DC would blink an eye.

And the NYT have 10 million subscribers out of hundreds of millions of american citizens. Guess conservatives overestimate the impact of the Times as well. I doubt very much that conservatives in DC ignore what Hannity and the rest of them think, given how they stumble over themselves for endorsements. And Clarence Thomas could participate in a case that affects someone who owns his mother's house without any consequence whatsoever.

And the NYT have 10 million subscribers out of hundreds of millions of american citizens.

But they're the right 10 million, and further they influence a lot more than that.

Too bad they couldn't influence the election in 2016, for all their power. Or supreme court shenanigans. Or rampant gerrymandering. Or protect abortion rights. Turns out running the OWG and pulling all the strings in the American government isn't all it's cracked up to be.

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