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Column: The Supreme Court's all-important Jan. 6 decisions will be tainted

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Column: The Supreme Court's all-important Jan. 6 decisions will be tainted

America, we have a(nother) constitutional crisis on our hands.

Amid all the well-warranted attention to Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who refuses to recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases despite reasonable doubt about his impartiality, spare some also for his equally ethics-challenged colleague Clarence Thomas, who’s stiffed similar recusal demands for more than two years.

Opinion Columnist

Jackie Calmes

Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.

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Within weeks, the Supreme Court will decide two cases related to the unsuccessful 2021 insurrection and to Donald Trump’s role in events. No matter how the court decides, the outcomes will be widely questioned — because of the polluting participation of Alito and Thomas, the court’s most far-right members. And that’s a problem for a court whose public approval rating is already at historical lows in polls.

We now know that both justices’ spouses — the flag-loving Martha-Ann Alito and “Stop the Steal” foot soldier Ginni Thomas — have amply demonstrated their pro-Trump bias in ways that could not, and surely did not, go unnoticed by their husbands. Consequently, Justices Alito’s and Thomas’ “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” — the standard for recusal under toothless federal law — in cases involving Trump.

The objectivity of the full court, with its 6-3 right-wing supermajority, is suspect as well. In one of the two pending cases, the one involving Trump’s claim of immunity from criminal prosecution, the court has dragged matters out so long that he almost certainly won’t be tried before the 2024 election for trying to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

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That makes the court complicit — in appearance and probably in fact — in Trump’s unsubtle legal strategy: delay, delay, delay. How much of that foot dragging owes to Alito and Thomas? We can’t know, because of the court’s secretive inner workings. But we can reasonably question.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is doing his part to maintain the court’s opacity. On Thursday he wrote to Sens. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee on federal courts, respectively, rejecting their request to meet about court ethics. Roberts cited judicial independence and the separation of powers.

The chief can’t claim the high ground when his colleagues keep digging from below.

First, consider Alito, the scofflaw of the moment. The New York Times has reported that separate flags associated with groups that attacked the Capitol flew over his home outside Washington and at a beach getaway in New Jersey. Alito blames his wife, leaving more bus tracks on her back each time he addresses the matter, and absolves himself.

“No involvement whatsoever,” he said in a brief email to the New York Times, for its first story on the upside-down U.S. flag that waved at his house for days in January 2021, after the attack on the Capitol. Alito gave no response to the newspaper for its second story about a flag favored by pro-Trump Christian nationalists that fluttered at his beach house last summer. Yet he gave friendly Fox News an interview, and claimed his wife was provoked by a venomous spat with an anti-Trump couple on their block — an account that couple contradicted in a third New York Times story that was partly corroborated by neighbors, contemporaneous texts and a police report.

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When Alito wrote to Durbin and Whitehouse, rejecting their request that he recuse from 2020 election cases, he said he’d asked his wife for several days to remove the inverted flag, but she refused. He emphasized his wife’s autonomy, her co-ownership of their house and her constitutional rights — and his own impotence: “There were no additional steps I could have taken to have the flag taken down more promptly.” Are justices so used to being catered to that Alito couldn’t take it down himself?

Now a brief refresher on Ginni Thomas’ shenanigans, which similarly elicited professions of cluelessness, powerlessness and respect for her independence from her hubby.

For weeks after Biden’s election, Ginni Thomas texted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, forwarding conspiracy theories and imploring him to keep up the fight for Trump: “Do not concede. It takes time for the army who is gathering for his back.” She contacted Arizona Republicans to promote the fake electors scheme. On Jan. 6 she wrote on Facebook, “LOVE MAGA people!!!!” She joined in damning the House Jan. 6 committee as a “political persecution” of “citizens who have done nothing wrong.” And she condemned then-Vice President Mike Pence for certifying Biden’s election.

What did Clarence Thomas do? He repeatedly participated in Jan. 6-related cases and invariably sided with the pro-Trump parties.

Together the Thomas and Alito scandals underscore the revolting sense of impunity at the court among its life-tenured justices. Most public figures, those answerable to the voters, show some humility and remorse in the face of evident wrongdoing or embarrassment (at least they used to). Not these justices.

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Part and parcel of their impunity is a petulant refusal to be accountable for their partners’ actions, when those activities cast the justices’ own fairness into doubt. Journalists can throw this stone: Reporters enter their careers accepting that they can’t sport political bumper stickers, lapel buttons, yard signs or flags, and they certainly can’t work for political causes. It’s not ethical. If a spouse works in politics, the reporter avoids covering stories their partner is involved in. I still live by the limits though I became an opinion columnist several years ago. In the decades I reported on Congress, the White House and campaigns, those in my household respected them as well.

It’s not too much to expect that justices demand their spouses do the same.

Alito and Thomas disagree. And so they, with Roberts, bring disgrace on the court. When the court soon rules on the Jan. 6 cases, its decisions will be historic not only for the substance but for the fact that two such conflicted justices took part. Shame on them.

@jackiekcalmes

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Socialism goes west as DSA-backed challenger ousts longtime Democrat

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Socialism goes west as DSA-backed challenger ousts longtime Democrat

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Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., a 30-year incumbent, lost to a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed challenger in a high-profile primary on Tuesday evening.

Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old socialist, defeated DeGette in a Democratic primary for a deep-blue House seat anchored in Denver, according to The Associated Press, scoring a major victory for the socialist left on Tuesday evening.

The DSA had been aiming to cast DeGette’s loss as evidence of its growing momentum after a slate of socialist candidates won Democratic primaries in New York City last week.

“Today, the East Coast, next week the Mountain West,” the DSA wrote in a social media post last week.

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Rep. Diana DeGette speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

SOCIALISTS CHEER ‘SHOCKWAVE’ PRIMARY NIGHT AS DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES WIN, ADVANCE ACROSS THE MAP

If elected in November, Kiros, who was born in Ethiopia, will likely join the ranks of the far-left group known as the Squad and become one of a handful of the House chamber’s outspoken socialists. 

The millennial challenger was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and the anti-incumbent leftist organization Justice Democrats. Controversial socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who has said Hamas is “a thousand times better” than Israel and praised the Chinese Communist Party, also backed Kiros’ insurgent primary run.

DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sought to win a 16th House term by flexing her leftist bona fides. She argued her seniority on an influential House committee would allow her to push for Medicare-for-All legislation — a longtime priority of the party’s far-left flank.

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DeGette, who was endorsed by former CPC Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also spotlighted her experience as an impeachment manager during Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021.

Though DeGette and Kiros shared few policy disagreements, they diverged sharply over Israel and antisemitism. Kiros also sharply criticized DeGette for accepting corporate PAC contributions.

Kiros, a PhD student and lawyer, was fired from a New York firm in 2023 after publishing an open letter, arguing that pro-Palestinian student protesters calling for the elimination of Israel were not antisemitic and appearing to defend Hamas.

Melat Kiros participated in a League of Women Voters Congressional District 1 candidate forum at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver on May 28, 2026. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post)

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She has also described the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state as the “inevitable consequence of apartheid” and declined to characterize the deadly firebombing of protesters in Boulder last year who were urging the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza as antisemitic. 

“I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” Kiros told Colorado’s 9News in a recent television interview. “All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed.”

A June 2025 bipartisan resolution condemning the attack as part of a “rise in ideologically motivated attacks on Jewish individuals” won every present lawmaker’s support, except for Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who voted present.

Kiros has also suggested the United States deserved 9/11.

“Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East that forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response,” Kiros told 9News when asked if she thought the terror attack was “the inevitable consequence of American foreign policy.”

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“And again, just like I said before, our responsibility is to get rid of those conditions that lead to violence in the first place,” Kiros continued.

DeGette argued that Kiros’ embrace of Piker and her comments about antisemitism and 9/11 were disqualifying. 

“I’m shocked and disgusted that Kiros is doubling down on excusing terrorism and the murder of innocent people,” the 30-year incumbent wrote on Facebook earlier this month.

Streamer and creator Hasan Piker speaks at a press conference during day two of Web Summit Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada, on May 13, 2026. (Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Getty Images)

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Colorado’s 1st Congressional District is the most liberal seat in the state and voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 56 points in 2024.

The primary fight was further scrambled by University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, also running for DeGette’s seat. Though James did not pose the same threat as Kiros, her vote share could ultimately have swayed the contest. 

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Newsom signs off on 100% California tax for money from Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘slush fund’

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Newsom signs off on 100% California tax for money from Trump’s .8-billion ‘slush fund’

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on a 100% state tax on money any Californians receive from Trump’s $1.8-billion “anti-weaponization” fund for his political allies.

Newsom unveiled his proposal in May, after Trump’s Justice Department said it would create a fund to compensate Trump’s allies who claim they have “suffered weaponization and lawfare” under Biden’s Justice Department.

The settlement fund was criticized by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who described it as a “slush fund to pay people who assault cops.”

The fund remains in legal limbo. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Virginia extended a court-ordered block on the plan, which critics warned could be used to pay pardoned Jan. 6 rioters.

Fast-tracked into law as part of Senate Bill 122, Newsom’s plan imposes “a tax on any settlement fund payment from the federal Anti-Weaponization Fund, or any subsequent fund, settlement, or agreement, as provided, at a rate of 100%,” according to the bill text. The tax applies to all tax years between 2026 and 2030.

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Newsom signed the bill Tuesday. In a statement, his office said the tax is meant to ensure that, should Trump’s fund proceed, California recipients won’t “receive favorable state treatment on those payments.”

“We believe democracy is worth defending, the rule of law matters, and public dollars should support victims—not those who attacked the very institutions that protect our freedoms,” Newsom said in the statement.

University of Southern California law professor Ariel Jurow Kleiman, an expert on tax law and policy, said that while Newsom’s tax is a “novel legal strategy,” she believes there is “no categorical legal restriction” preventing California from implementing it.

States have a “wide degree of discretion” to design their tax systems — including how they define income — so long as they do not violate their constitutions, Jurow Kleiman said.

If a California resident wanted to challenge the tax in court, they would need to show they were harmed by it to have standing to sue, according to Jurow Kleiman. That would mean receiving a payment from Trump’s settlement fund and then paying the 100% California tax. Unless the settlement fund is established and distributes payments, that scenario is unlikely.

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While there have been proposals to levy a 100% tax on income above certain thresholds — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2023 said he supports a 100% tax on income exceeding $1 billion — Jurow Kleiman said she is not aware of any governments that have adopted such a policy.

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Congress eyes rare bipartisan housing win with or without Trump’s help

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Congress eyes rare bipartisan housing win with or without Trump’s help

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The House has officially shipped a colossal bipartisan housing package to President Donald Trump, and lawmakers are hoping that, at the very least, he doesn’t veto it.

Trump was supposed to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act last week, but his last-minute decision to ghost the signing ceremony with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put into question whether the bill was dead.

His refusal to sign the bill, which passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in both chambers, was to leverage the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which doesn’t currently have the votes to succeed in the Senate.

WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON

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Trump has refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump appears to be in no hurry to sign the bill, despite Republicans who are hungry for a win in the affordability fight ahead of the midterm elections.

“It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.”

“Here’s what I would like to sign, much more than a bill that — big deal, it’s a yawn,” he continued. “Some people say it’s wonderful. To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

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It’s legislation that is loaded with nearly 60 provisions from both sides of the aisle in both chambers that’s designed to make it easier for homes to be built and for younger Americans to buy their first home. It also includes a ban on hedge funds buying up housing stock that Trump pushed Congress to include during the State of the Union earlier this year.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the architects behind the bill in the upper chamber alongside Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., charged that Congress handed the bill to Trump “on a silver platter.”

“When you ask me what happens next, if he cared about the American people, he’d have already signed the damned thing, and we’d be underway,” Warren said on WCVB’s “On the Record” on Sunday.

But Trump doesn’t have to put his signature on the bill for it to become law.

IRATE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE TRUMP OF HANDING DEMOCRATS A WIN AFTER BLOWING UP HOUSING PACKAGE

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The Senate advanced a massive, Trump-backed housing package geared toward lowering the costs of homes and supercharging the housing supply. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pitched it as legislation to prevent America from becoming a “nation of renters.” (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Protect Borrowers; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Constitution grants presidents the ability to veto a bill within 10 days of it being transferred over to the White House. In that scenario, Congress could override a veto of the housing package.

It’s happened before under the Trump administration. In early 2021, Congress overrode Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act — a massive Pentagon funding authorization package that some House Republicans are trying to use as a vehicle to pass the SAVE America Act.

But during that 10-day period, if Trump doesn’t sign the bill, it would automatically become law. That’s unless Congress completely adjourns, in which case a “pocket veto” could happen. The Senate is currently in recess and the House is scheduled to leave town by week’s end, but neither count as a full adjournment.

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Johnson, who spent the last few days meeting with Trump at the White House about the housing bill and the SAVE America Act, said: “I hope he does sign it.”

“If he doesn’t, it’s still law,” Johnson said. “We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively. And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”

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