Democracy, justice, and our lives depend on the presence or absence of an asterisk.
Tom Toles, Pulitzer Prize Winner working at the Washington Post has published a brilliant, timely cartoon on the Supreme Court. 1
I hope he wins another Pulitzer Prize for this cartoon.
The Supreme Court is about to be packed further by the GOP.
And this is at a time when “We the people” are dying from the violence of the coronavirus and many other harmful factors under the worst governance of “protecting the public health and safety” in the 55 years of history of the U.S.A. that I have witnessed. 2
Just the few Trump Death and Injury Clocks that I maintain on air pollution and auto crashes quantify enormous harms that we have suffered from the corruption so far. 3
Let There Be Light
We need more light on the Judicial Branch. In the 1970’s under the Nixon Administration, I was an EPA Whistleblower who was fired by William Ruckelshaus. I revealed that the agency had changed the auto emission test procedures to permit auto companies to emit greater levels of air pollutants than allowed under the Clean Air Act. 4
When I tried to get the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to release documents they were producing under the Clean Air Act, I was refused access for 50 years. The NAS claimed that they were not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
An elderly Professor at Georgetown Law School offered to have me represented in court by a young lawyer on his staff. I asked the elderly Professor what my chances of winning were. He got up from his chair came around his desk and wagged his finger at me. “Young man, you must promise never tell anyone that I told you what I am about to tell you. It depends on which judge is assigned to your case.” Republican Judge John Joseph Sirica was assigned my case. 5
Sirica ruled against us in Lombardo v. Handler. We exhausted all appeals including the Supreme Court. And, as I wrote in an article for Legal Reader:
Thus Ruckelshaus, the EPA, the NAS, Judge Sirica, and the appellate judges were able to prevent disclosure of weakened air pollution regulations that allowed excess air pollutants to be emitted into the air. As a result, both the people and the planet have been damaged by excessive amounts of air pollutants for the past nearly 50 years. I was right and they were wrong. 6
We Can Fight with Light
The Post has a valid masthead “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.
The Post, and other media, can take an action to help readers fight this corruption with systemic change to prevent Democracy and people from dying in darkness.
Adopt a journalistic policy that articles reporting on judicial decisions always be accompanied by an asterisk.
The asterisk would indicate the party that nominated the judge, e.g., (R*) or (D*).
For way too long, the media has left readers in the dark.
Democracy, justice, and our lives depend on the presence or absence of an asterisk.
References (Live Links to Documents)
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