Justice Jackson Lobs Snark At Supreme Court In Dissent On Government 'Greed'

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had sharp words for her conservative colleagues Wednesday in a case revolving around a public official accused of accepting a bribe.

In the case, former small-town mayor James Snyder asked the court to determine whether a particular federal criminal statute makes it illegal for public officials to accept compensation from people or entities they help in their official role — as he did by taking a $13,000 check from a company after awarding it city contracts.

The high court’s conservative majority came down on Snyder’s side, deciding in part that the statute doesn’t cover tokens of gratitude to public officials. The statute bans people from giving gifts to officials before said officials do them a favor. But giving gifts after a favor was a different story, they said, and Snyder took a payment afterward.

Jackson disagreed.

“Greed makes governments — at every level — less responsive, less efficient, and less trustworthy from the perspective of the communities they serve,” she began her opinion.

“Snyder’s absurd and atextual reading of the statute is one only today’s Court could love,” the liberal jurist went on.

Her words carried extra weight as a series of scandals has continued to undermine public trust in the Supreme Court itself.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have both accepted lavish gifts in the form of luxury vacations, private jet travel and, in Thomas’ case, cash to buy a high-end RV, according to reporting from ProPublica. The justices have argued they had the right to accept tokens of friendship, but the revelations — made by journalists and congressional investigators — prompted the court to start requiring slightly more detailed financial disclosures