Discussion: The Supreme Court II

[InCali]

This just in.....the SCOTUS has ruled that you can't lower the cost of education because it wouldn't be fair to people who paid more in the past. Details at 11.

 

[squeekness]

This just in.....the SCOTUS has ruled that you can't lower the cost of education because it wouldn't be fair to people who paid more in the past. Details at 11.

Oh, please. Does that mean you can't buy a car on sale? Or fluctuating house prices can't happen? Geez......

 

[Teelie]

People in the past had it more difficult therefore we are not allowed to progress as a society so things like abortion, equal rights, affordable college, housing and living wages are now banned. And don't even think about being anything but straight or the Republican Boogeyman will come for you.

 

[Sithborg]

This just in.....the SCOTUS has ruled that you can't lower the cost of education because it wouldn't be fair to people who paid more in the past. Details at 11.

More accurately, only Republican presidents are allowed to broadly interpret somewhat vague laws. Democratic presidents have to stick to the exact letter, no more.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Forgiving student loans is a no go, but it’s perfectly acceptable to forgive PPP loans. And let’s not forgot how they bailed out banks and financial institutions that caused the 2008 crash

What a joke

 

[squeekness]

Forgiving student loans is a no go, but it’s perfectly acceptable to forgive PPP loans. And let’s not forgot how they bailed out banks and financial institutions that caused the 2008 crash

What a joke

Agreed. Sorry they didnt come through for you guys.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Agreed. Sorry they didnt come through for you guys.

Luckily I take part in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Been with the same government employer for 9+ years now so I only have a few more months to go until any balance remaining on my loan is forgiven

But decreasing my overall balance by $10,000 would have been very beneficial for me. Since I do income-based repayment, each year I’ve been having to pay more and more. Went from paying $160/month when I started to around $480/month more recently. Don’t even want to begin to imagine what I will have to pay once payments start up again considering I am in a higher paying position at the moment

 

[squeekness]

Luckily I take part in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Been with the same government employer for 9+ years now so I only have a few more months to go until any balance remaining on my loan is forgiven

But decreasing my overall balance by $10,000 would have been very beneficial for me. Since I do income-based repayment, each year I’ve been having to pay more and more. Went from paying $160/month when I started to around $480/month more recently. Don’t even want to begin to imagine what I will have to pay once payments start up again considering I am in a higher paying position at the moment

Most of that is interesting, right? I heard a lot of these loans have become predatory, people having to pay back well more than they borrowed.?

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

Most of that is interesting, right? I heard a lot of these loans have become predatory, people having to pay back well more than they borrowed.?

Yes

I’ve pretty much been paying back interest fees only

 

[squeekness]

Yes

I’ve pretty much been paying back interest fees only

So getting nowhere fast.

 

[CaptainWagner]

This just in.....the SCOTUS has ruled that you can't lower the cost of education because it wouldn't be fair to people who paid more in the past. Details at 11.

Utterly pathetic but expected.

But the most infuriating thing is how the GOP challenged this based on the means testing, which never should have been included in the first place. Biden caved to the Right and then the challenged it anyway, using their own demand as the wedge to overturn the whole thing

 

[Prison Mike]

Yes

I’ve pretty much been paying back interest fees only

All of my fed loan payments have been hitting interest only. Didn’t even touch the principal

 

[squeekness]

All of my fed loan payments have been hitting interest only. Didn’t even touch the principal

That's just not even the least bit fair. Its like you're getting extra taxed.

 

[Teelie]

That is what is so wrong with student loans. Say you only owe $50,000 and you can only pay $200 a month but the interest rate is like 6%. You are utterly screwed on paying it off because you never will. And if somehow in the future you do, you may well end up spending an extra third or more paying off that 50.

And this is exactly what Republicans think is right. You go into debt to get a degree that isn't worth it to pay more off of a debt than it originally started as.

 

[squeekness]

That is what is so wrong with student loans. Say you only owe $50,000 and you can only pay $200 a month but the interest rate is like 6%. You are utterly screwed on paying it off because you never will. And if somehow in the future you do, you may well end up spending an extra third or more paying off that 50.

And this is exactly what Republicans think is right. You go into debt to get a degree that isn't worth it to pay more off of a debt than it originally started as.

It could also be them thinking the government should be making money. Better this than taxing the rich.

 

[Lily Adler]

Utterly pathetic but expected.

But the most infuriating thing is how the GOP challenged this based on the means testing, which never should have been included in the first place. Biden caved to the Right and then the challenged it anyway, using their own demand as the wedge to overturn the whole thing

Exactly. Had this been available to everyone, it would have been harder to fight.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Business Insider - Supreme Court justices privately said the abortion leak locked in their votes on overturning Roe v. Wade: report

• Supreme Court justices privately revealed the leak locked their votes in on the abortion case.
• That's according to CNN Joan Biskupic's reporting in her forthcoming book.
• The court voted 5-4 to overturn Roe v. Wade last June.

 

[Sithborg]

Which is why it was leaked.

 

[Teelie]

Which is why it was leaked.

Which is why Ginni Thomas leaked it.

 

[moviedoors]

 

[squeekness]

Oh, for Pete's sake. This court is a sham.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Reuters - U.S. Supreme Court lets Chevron foe Donziger's contempt conviction stand

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a disbarred environmental lawyer's challenge to his criminal contempt conviction after he earlier won but was unable to collect a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corp (CVX.N) over oil pollution in Ecuadorian rainforests.

Donziger was sentenced to six months in jail in 2021 after U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan found him guilty of misdemeanor contempt for defying court orders arising from a lawsuit filed by Chevron.

Chevron then sued Donziger and others in New York, arguing that he and his associates had secured the judgment through fraud by arranging the ghostwriting of a key environmental report and bribing the presiding judge.

In 2014, Kaplan concluded in that case that the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron in Ecuador was obtained fraudulently through a corrupt process, rendering it unenforceable in the United States.

Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer for Chevron, on Monday noted that an appeals court later upheld Kaplan, finding that Donziger engaged in a "parade of corrupt actions" that included coercion, fraud and bribery.

When Chevron suspected Donziger was violating a related ban on trying to monetize or profit from the judgment, Kaplan ordered him to turn over electronic devices and email accounts for examination.

Donziger refused, and Kaplan ultimately charged him with criminal contempt. After federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to take the case, Kaplan in an unusual move tapped a private lawyer, Rita Glavin, to lead the prosecution of Donziger.

He was tried and convicted and disbarred. Just because you're anti-corporate or had a sympathetic cause doesn't mean that you can commit crimes in that pursuit as a lawyer.

This appeal to SCOTUS wasn't about Chevron, it was about whether the private lawyer appointed to prosecute was a valid appointment or not.

 

[moviedoors]

Reuters - U.S. Supreme Court lets Chevron foe Donziger's contempt conviction stand




He was tried and convicted and disbarred. Just because you're anti-corporate or had a sympathetic cause doesn't mean that you can commit crimes in that pursuit as a lawyer.

This appeal to SCOTUS wasn't about Chevron, it was about whether the private lawyer appointed to prosecute was a valid appointment or not.

How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything.

Please rethink that narrative.

 

[DKDetective]

Reuters - U.S. Supreme Court lets Chevron foe Donziger's contempt conviction stand




He was tried and convicted and disbarred. Just because you're anti-corporate or had a sympathetic cause doesn't mean that you can commit crimes in that pursuit as a lawyer.

This appeal to SCOTUS wasn't about Chevron, it was about whether the private lawyer appointed to prosecute was a valid appointment or not.

How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything.

Please rethink that narrative.

While there is plenty of compelling evidence that Donziger engaged in some pretty shady stuff in this case, the way that the judge, Kaplan, acted raises serious rule of law and constitutional issues. Gorsuch is usually horrible, but his dissent has very strong reasoning to it. Constitutionally, the sole power to prosecute crimes resides in the executive branch and the the power to hear and decide those charges rests with the judiciary. Normally, conviction with a federal crime required agreement between two branches, the executive and the judiciary. Here, the US Attorney's office declined to prosecute, so the judge appointed a private law firm with connections to Chevron to prosecute the case and then assigned it to a friend, rather than allowing random assignment as in the normal course. All of that appoints to a reasonable apprehension of bias.

It should also be noted that the Bar Association refused to disbar Donziger, but Chevron appealed the decision and got an appeal court to overturn the Bar Association's decision. There is also the fact that the Ecuadorian judge who claims that Donziger bribed him in the case also seemed to give his testimony in the US case in exchange for massive financial and other compensation from Chevron.

Where the evidence is so mixed and muddied, it is hard to say that it is a situation where one can make any conclusions beyond a reasonable doubt and the guy's life and livelihood ought not to be destroyed as a result.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Hague Court of Arbitration declares that Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron was obtained “through fraud, bribery and corruption.” Steven Donziger’s law license suspended. | Energy History

Revisiting Steven Donziger’s fraud against Chevron in Ecuador – Richmond Standardhttps://richmondstandard.com/chevro...nzigers-fraud-against-chevron-in-ecuador/amp/