#SCOTUS Justice Samuel A. #Alito Jr. has offered multiple accounts of how politically charged flags [#insurrectionist flags] came to fly outside his homes in VA & NJ — the type of display that is generally off-limits for judges, who must remain #impartial & avoid even the appearance of #bias as they handle cases.
Since the public revelation of the #flags engulfed the nation’s highest court in criticism last month & prompted calls for #Alito’s #recusal from certain cases, the justice has said it was his wife who flew the banners, not him, & that she flew one of them after a neighborhood dispute. But his successive explanations — in a statement, an interview w/ FoxNews & letters to Congress — have raised additional questions, & in some cases #conflicted w/known #facts.
…#Alito told Fox News …the neighborhood dispute began when his wife went to speak w/their neighbor Emily Baden in Jan 2021. #MarthaAnnAlito was upset the woman was displaying an anti #Trump sign, w/an expletive, “within 50 feet of where children await the school bus,” as Bream put it on…[social media].
But Fairfax County schools were shuttered at the time because of the coronavirus pandemic & had been since March 2020.
The #transaction is the first known instance of #money flowing from Crow to the #SupremeCourt justice. The sale netted the #GOP#megadonor two vacant lots & the house where Thomas’ #mother was living (& still is).
Trump's team is more focused so far on building a sprawling network of "#ElectionIntegrity" #lawyers & #PollWatchers than on rounding up organizers & door knockers to reach voters.
It's a sign that 5 months before Election Day, the legal battle is underway —& that Trump PLANS to cry "rigged" if he loses, as it did after the #2020election & his #felony#convictions.
#RussVought has helped craft proposals for Trump to deploy the #military to quash #CivilUnrest, seize more #control over the #DOJ & assert the power to withhold congressional appropriations —& that’s just on Trump’s 1st day…
Since #Trump left office, Vought has led the Center for Renewing America, part of a network of #conservative advocacy groups staffed by fmr & potentially future Trump admin ofcls.
Each page yesterday took him just a little more than a minute, so this will take >30 mins.
Between that & the testimony readbacks, also expected to take >30 mins, there will likely be >1 hour this morning w/the jury in the courtroom, not actively deliberating.
Holy hell, #TuckerCarlson just said that #Trump would still win the election “if he’s not killed first,” & said that “anyone who defends this verdict is a danger to you & your family.”
#FoxNews pundits denounced the #verdict. “It’s inconceivable in New York that anyone else other than Donald Trump would be indicted in this way,” said Andy McCarthy, a legal analyst. Jeanine Pirro called the case “riddled with errors” & declared, “We have gone over a cliff in America.”
4 Israeli #hostages have been #rescued alive from #Gaza, the Israeli military said Sat. #Israel’s forces rescued Noa Argamani, 26; Almog Meir Jan, 22; Andrey Kozlov, 27; & Shlomi Ziv, 41, from 2 locations in #Nuseirat in central Gaza, the #IDF said in a stmnt. ≥125 people were #killed in the operation.
All “are in good medical condition” & have been transferred to a hospital for further medical examinations, the IDF said.
The #hostages were taken from the Nova music festival during the #Hamas attacks on Oct 7.
Israeli leaders spoke to Argamani following her #rescue. Argamani was captured on video being driven into #Gaza on a motorcycle after the deadly attack. Her mother, who has Stage 4 cancer, had appealed for Hamas to release her daughter as a dying wish.
President Isaac #Herzog & PM Benjamin #Netanyahu spoke to #freed hostage #NoaArgamani after her rescue.
Video shared by a fmr spox for PM, showed the phone call between Argamani & Herzog.
by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott & Alex Mierjeski @ProPublica
#Thomas has attended at least two #Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a #political network that has brought multiple #cases before the #SupremeCourt.
“…we’re seeing…someone who is living his professional life in a way that’s seeing… #extrajudicial opportunities as a #perk of the office,” said Charles Geyh, #JudicialEthics expert at IU law. Judges have social lives…& there are no clear lines for when a social gathering could pose a problem. But the confluence of #powerful#political actors & #undisclosed#gifts puts #Thomas’ trips far outside norm for judges’ #conduct, Geyh said: “There’s a culture of impartiality that’s really at risk here.”
Tax data obtained by @ProPublica provides a glimpse of what congressional investigators would find if Crow were to open his books…. Crow’s voyages w/Thomas, the data shows, contributed to a nice side benefit: They helped reduce Crow’s tax bill.…
The data is unlikely to affect the #FederalReserve’s decision next week on #InterestRates, when most economists expect policymakers to leave rates unchanged at their currently high level. #Fed ofcls have noted they are most focused on progress in suppressing inflation#.
In other data released this week, the ratio of #JobOpenings to #unemployed workers in April declined to prepandemic levels after peaking at more than two to one in early 2022. #Employers aren’t #hiring very quickly, but they’re not laying many people off, & #workers are less likely to quit their #jobs than they were in 2019.
The drop in #LaborForce participation came largely from those between the ages of 20–24, declining from 72.4% in April to 70.8% in May.
As of Jan, Chief Justice #JohnRoberts earns an annual salary of $312,200, while associate justices each earn $298,500. The judiciary’s rules limit justices to “outside earned income” of no more than about $32k per year, which many collect through teaching positions.
Book-writing payments do not count as outside income…. ≥4 #SCOTUS justices have forthcoming #books about their lives & the #law. Reports released Fri show #Kavanaugh is at work on a book, for which he has so far received $340k.
Scientists have mapped one of the most hazardous spots on the globe in unprecedented detail: a 600-mile geologic boundary just off the #PacificNorthwest coast.
Along this fraught stretch, called the #CascadiaSubductionZone, 2 pieces of the #Earth’s crust slide against each other, building up stresses capable of unleashing a catastrophic 9.0-magnitude #earthquake & generating a #tsunami, w/waves as high as 40 feet.
…The entire area, which stretches from Northern #California to #Vancouver Island, is at risk. But the scientists found the geometry of the fault off the coast of #Washington, where the fault is flat & smooth, closer to the surface & extends farther onshore, may be particularly at risk.
…This #FaultZone is hazardous because it’s a “megathrust” #fault. One piece of the #Earth’s crust, a tectonic plate called the Juan de Fuca plate, dives down beneath the North American continental plate.