by Joseph DeMaio, ©2022
(May 15, 2022) — “Unhinged” comes close to describing, if not vastly understating, the idiotic rant of one Elie Mystal in a recent attack on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Mystal unloaded on Justice Thomas because he had the temerity to speak out against the leak of the draft opinion which, if finalized, would overturn the Court’s prior pro-abortion decision in Roe v. Wade.
Thomas has labeled the leak something akin to an act of infidelity which will forever alter the Court’s collegiality and trust in one another and in the clerks who have heretofore honorably served their Justices. The identity of the leaker remains publicly undisclosed, but currently, the leading candidate is Justice Breyer’s leftist law clerk, Elizabeth Deutsch.
Mystal, a “writer” at “The Nation” and purported “graduate” of Hah-vahd law … ooooo… has accused Thomas of being – this is a quote – “arguably, with his wife, the most corrupt justice in American history.”
Seriously?
Let us dissect that indictment. First, Justice Thomas’s wife, Ginni, is not a Justice of the Supreme Court, so how Mystal could rationally seek to further festoon his attack about the Supreme Court Justice with slanderous innuendo regarding his wife is something of a mystery. On the other hand, rational thought and slander are like oil and water: they repel each other. In slandering Ginni Thomas, Mystal eschews rational thought in favor of that other tort.
Second, despite having been indoctrin…., oops, sorry…, educated at Hah-vahd law, for him to accuse Justice Thomas of being “arguably” the “most corrupt justice in American history” reveals another mystery. Specifically, it leaves one wondering whether Mystal ever read the majority opinion of Chief Justice Roger Taney – a Democrat appointed to the Supreme Court by Democrat President Andrew Jackson – in Scott v. Sandford.
Yes, Virginia, that was the case where Taney opined that “a free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a ‘citizen’ within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States.” The basis used by Taney to conclude that such “free negroes” were not “citizens” was because they were, instead, “property.”
That case was as dumb in 1856 as it is today. That’s right, Virginia, the case has never been overruled by the Court itself, but has been abrogated and superseded by the 13th and 14th Amendments. Taney, arguably, was more corrupt than any other Justice in history with that opinion.
Third, in response to the claim that Taney was not “corrupt,” but instead was just monumentally stupid, your humble servant can think of one other nominee for the most corrupt justice in the Court’s history: Associate Justice Horace Gray, a Republican appointed to the Court by Chester A. Arthur.
This nomination would be particularly appropriate if it is shown that Gray knew full well that his “in the same words” claim – which he included in his opinion in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, discussed here – was a conscious and intentional misrepresentation.
That misrepresentation, of course, would operate to benefit President Arthur against claims that he was not a “natural born citizen” and thus, ineligible to the presidency. The Wong Kim Ark decision has probably caused or contributed to more domestic non-tranquility than only a few other opinions, mainly in the area of “anchor baby” immigration debates. Those debates, however, are for another time.
Finally, it is clear that Mystal is no fan of either the U.S. Constitution – which he has described as “trash” – or the Founding Fathers, whom he has called “racist misogynist jerk faces.” Odd that someone who seems to wear a gigantic, bleached Brillo-pad for a toupée would criticize the Founders as having “jerk faces.”
Yet invective-laced hypocrisy is nothing new to the woke, liberal left in today’s America. And speaking of hypocrisy, how juicy is it that a person who laments and pummels Justice Thomas and the horrible nation in which he must survive – actually, he could leave any time he wants to – is married to another lawyer who is currently a vice-president and General Counsel at JP Morgan Chase and who has an estimated aggregate net worth of $20,000,000.00. Not exactly chump change…, for an intellectual chump.
As Emerson cogently observed: “Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” True…, even for Hah-vahd diploma holders…, not to be confused with those graduates who are actually educated.