Ownself Check Ownself

The moment the U.S Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and ended the constitutional right to abortion, I thought to myself, the US democracy is fucked. This isn't a country I'm keen to call home. I think I never did; quite glad that I never made any concrete plans to pack up and move to the US. Staying there for months on end or short-term at those points in my life sufficed for a taste of life stateside.  

In a nutshell, the Justices aren't supposed to have party affiliations. But we can't deny that there're six Conservative Justices holding court now. Centrists are few and far in its history. I'm not even going to think about federal judges. It's giving me a major headache. 

There're currently nine Justices at the Supreme Court of the United States, and there's a brand new ethics code to govern their behavior. Of course it has to do money — big money and gifts vs access and favors. Hmmm. There isn't an enforcement mechanism and it's literally what we call in Singlish, 'ownself check ownself'. THEN WHO WILL JUDGE THESE JUSTICES? 

Of course I'm not able to comment much on our own country's courts and justice system. It works pretty well for now, as a small country. I'm not sure a jury system would have worked here. BUT man, our laws need some serious tweaking, and updating. Anyway. 

I laughed long and really loud at this short and satirical piece in The New Yorker's 'Borowitz Report', published on November 14, 2023 titled 'Clarence Thomas Collapses from Exhaustion After First Full Day of Regulating Himself'. It's extremely delightful.

Although critics have called the Court’s new rules “toothless” and “unenforceable,” the strain of regulating his own behavior forced Thomas to repair to his bed, from which he spoke to reporters.

“People said that we Supreme Court Justices were going easy on ourselves by issuing a code of conduct that only we could enforce,” he said. “Well, all I can tell you is, regulating my behavior turns out to be a freaking full-time job.”

“I had no idea how egregious my behavior was until I was put in charge of regulating myself,” he said. “I’m really something of a rascal.” 

He said that other Justices were struggling with the arduous self-regulatory demands of the code of conduct. “As rough a time as I’ve had, I wouldn’t trade places with Brett Kavanaugh,” he said. 

As for his immediate plans, Thomas said that, once he regains his strength, he will take a “much-needed break” from regulating himself aboard Harlan Crow’s hundred-and-sixty-two-foot yacht.