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Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimized by the Supreme Court.
Hold onto your human rights, because it’s officially that time of year again! The Supreme Court is dropping decisions with the business savvy of Taylor Swift’s Midnights rollout. No leaks this time around! So while we patiently wait to see if we’re going to keep our crushing student loan debt, Congress is weighing in on the ethically questionable side of the Supreme Court. You know, the side where Clarence Thomas takes boys’ trips with major Republican donors while Ginni Thomas dabbles with a government coup.
Considering all of the casual ethics violations happening at the Highest Court in the Land, you probably won’t be shocked to hear that the justices aren’t held to an ethical code. Don’t freak out quite yet though, because Elizabeth Warren joined the Data for Progress blog to inform us that she has a plan. Senator Warren and other members of Congress introduced the Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act, which will ensure that Supreme Court justices follow the same ethical code as other federal judges. Seventy-three percent of voters support this approach, including 80 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of Independents, and 65 percent of Republicans.
It’s pretty stressful to hear that America’s most powerful frat bro, Brett Kavanaugh, was held to higher standards at Delta Kappa Epsilon than on the Supreme Court. Understandably, voters want to see that remedied. Data for Progress finds 77 percent of voters support requiring Supreme Court justices and their spouses (@ Ginni Thomas) to adopt a code of ethics. This includes 86 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents, and 72 percent of Republicans.
A judicial code of ethics seems like one of those things that should have been around since the dawn of the Supreme Court, but beggars can’t be choosers. So, Clarence, go jet skiing with your pal Harlan while you can! Soon, that will probably be an ethics violation — as watching Clarence Thomas struggle to stand up on a jet ski should always be.
Read the full blog and polling here.
Here are some other highlights from DFP this week:
The LGBTQ+ community: we are once again asking for basic human rights protections.
While it’s a great time to be queer (Lea Michelle’s Funny Girl coup, the Renaissance world tour, Kim Cattrall’s And Just Like That… return), it’s also pretty awful (the 500+ pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation). Republicans are clearly threatened by the increased visibility of the LGBTQ+ community over the past decade, and instead of celebrating Pride Month with the rest of us, they’re taking on the Jennifer Coolidge vibe of “these gays are trying to murder me!” (No disrespect to Jennifer Coolidge, whom we love and adore.)
In new polling, Data for Progress finds 47 percent of LGBTQ+ adults — including a majority of transgender adults and adults age 55 or older — said society has become less safe for the community in the past few years. So, the opposite of progress.
Considering states like Florida and Texas have banned gender-affirming care for minors and lessons on LGBTQ+ identity in schools, it may not come as a surprise to hear that 27 percent of LGBTQ+ adults have considered moving due to the legislation in their state. This includes 41 percent of young adults ages 18 to 24. Alarmingly, a majority of transgender adults have also considered moving or already moved out of their community or state.
Democrats, the majority of LGBTQ+ adults believe that you don’t care about them and that you’ve gotta step up and do more for the community. The lives of LGBTQ+ Americans are at stake, and while Kamala’s Pride jacket did indeed slay, it won’t protect the LGBTQ+ community from harmful legislation. Although, it would be pretty cool if it did.
Read the full blog and polling here.
“So This is the Debt Bill (War is Over)” by John and Yoko.
Rejoice! Dance in the streets! Party like a Tulane freshman during Mardi Gras! A debt limit deal has finally been reached! After months (and months and months and months) of negotiating (if we can call it that), President Biden and Bummer of the House Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement to raise the debt limit before the country defaults on its debt and catapults into economic turmoil.
Although the debt deal finally crossed the finish line, Kevin is still not very popular amongst his so-called friends. Seriously, Doug the Pug has more followers than him on Instagram (as he should). New Data for Progress polling finds that voters credit Biden and Democrats in Congress for avoiding the default by an +11-point margin over McCarthy and Republicans in Congress. Biden is credited by 28% of voters while only 21% of voters credit McCarthy. To really drive the point home for Kev, House conservatives are projecting their anger over McCarthy’s debt deal by voting with Democrats and tanking their own gas stove bill. Yes, you read that right. No one ever said that Everybody Loves Kevin, the attitude has always been Kevin Can F**k Himself.
While it may have seemed like Joe and Kevin’s debt ceiling chats were a trending topic, Data for Progress finds that voters were actually pretty uninformed about the issue. Sixty-five percent of voters know “a little” about the federal debt limit, while only 19 percent know “a lot.”
Sorry Kevin, you can wait (there are just so many ‘Kevin’ shows, okay?!?). When you drag out debt ceiling negotiations, give Janet Yellen a stress ulcer, and force people to learn even a little bit about the national debt (we prefer living in ignorance, thank you very much), you don’t get credit for the deal.
Read the full blog and polling here.
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