The Misrule of Law

Though I tend to emphasize the executive and the legislative branches of government here at Poli-Tea, the judiciary is not exempt from the machinations of the duopoly kleptocracy, which is bought and paid for by national and multinational corporations. The NYT reports on the Supreme Court's decision in the Massey Energy case:

Elected judges must disqualify themselves from cases involving people who spent exceptionally large sums to put them on the bench, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision.

One would think that recusing oneself in such an instance should be common sense. The dissenting justices think otherwise. At Docudharma, Michael Gass traces the outlines of the cloud behind the silver lining:

Massey Coal lost a case and appealed it. Before the appeal was heard, Massey Coal funded the campaign of a lawyer named Benjamin to be elected to the Appeal Court. Benjamin won the election, then refused to recuse himself twice, voting each time in favor of Massey Coal. The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court, who then ruled by 5-4 that Benjamin had acted wrongly. 5-4 that it is wrong for a corporation to buy itself a judge. And, who is buying off the judges? Corporations. To stunning effect!