Tune in on Sunday at 12pm ET for @jrpsaki's interview with Democratic National Committee Chair @harrisonjaime. pic.twitter.com/us3YJbt9Jn
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) July 7, 2023
Here’s an excellent article I’ve been waiting for the space / time to post. James Fallows, at his Substack — “The branch of government that depends most on trust cares least about preserving it. Now it’s up to Congress”:
… I have an absolutist “no surprises” approach when it comes to disclosing anything the audience might possibly find significant later on. The test is not whether you, personally, think your judgment might be affected. It is whether someone else might have wanted to consider the info.
And remember that this is for my own, non-consequential writing—which at most might affect how someone thinks about an issue, but which has zero legal or direct economic impact on anyone else. Perhaps I make these disclosures out of vanity: I’m afraid that if I hide some conflict and a reader later finds out, I’d look worse in the long run. But it’s a rule that I and many other writers observe.
How different this is from the Supreme Court.
The most powerful, least accountable figures in public life.
Here’s a summary of the paragraphs that follow:
– The nine lifetime-appointees on the US Supreme Court have more individual power than anyone else in US public life.
– Yet those nine members are under fewer formal controls on their ethics and possible conflicts than any (and I stress any) other federal official or employees, including those with purely clerical or administrative duties.
– The legitimacy of the Court therefore depends on the rest of us believing that those we trust with power are trustworthy.
– The current Court has shown that it is not.
– Therefore it is time for outside intervention, and supervision…
The nine members of the Supreme Court wield more individual power, less accountably, for a longer period, than anyone else in our public life…
Sunday Morning Open Thread: <em>The [SC(R)OTUS] Court Can’t Heal Itself</em>Post + Comments (123)