(Photo
by
Drew
Angerer/Getty
Images)
It’s
all
lollipops
and
sunshine
down
at
the
Supreme
Court
following
Donald
Trump’s
2024
election
victory.
Sir
Samuel
of
Blackacre won’t
have
to
dust
off
his
insurrection
flags! Ginni
Thomas
won’t
have
to
pay
text
overage
fees
pestering
Mark
Meadows
with
conspiracy
theories!
And
Brett
Kavanaugh
can
point
at
Matt
Gaetz!
It’s
the
result
that
the
conservatives
on
the
Supreme
Court
went
to
considerable
lengths
to
make
happen
from
retroactively
erasing
part
of
the
Fourteenth
Amendment
to
inventing
a
brand
new
theory
of
immunity
to
functionally
shield
presidents
from
non-presidential
acts
—
like
refusing
to
turn
over
classified
documents
as
a
private
citizen
or
paying
hush
money
to
a
porn
star.
Time
to
celebrate,
gang!
One
justice
might
be
doing
a
little
celebrating
as
we
speak.
We’re
hearing
that
Clarence
Thomas
might
be
taking
a
break
from
vacation
planning
today
to
have
a
private
lunch
with
right-wing
gadfly
Ben
Shapiro.
Shapiro
would
seem
an
odd
dining
companion
for
a
Supreme
Court
justice.
Maybe
Thomas
needed
some
Thanksgiving
tips
from
the
absolute
worst
chef
of
all
time:
That’s
from
a
video
where
Shapiro
awkwardly
attempts
to
make
a
turkey
while
hawking
earbuds.
Remember
back
in
the
60s
when
William
F.
Buckley
and
Barry
Goldwater
did
a
cooking
segment?
Me
neither.
The
right-wing
media
environment
is
self-parody
at
this
point,
making
it
all
the
more
terrifying
that
it
holds
more
sway
over
the
Court’s
conservatives
than
ever
before.
Last
Term,
we
heard
some
bizarre
questions
that
only
made
sense
from
the
perspective
of
one
entirely
ensconced
in
that
echo
chamber.
Under
these
circumstances,
it
would
be
disturbing
if
not
surprising
for
a
justice
to
have
a
fanboy
meal
—
not
sure
which
is
the
fanboy
in
this
scenario
—
with
a
fixture
from
that
world.
Look,
justices
can
eat
with
whoever
they
want.
Preferably
it’s
not
someone
with
pending
business
before
the
Court,
but
Alito
has
already
proven
there’s
nothing
stopping
the
justices
from
doing
that
either.
Shapiro
doesn’t
raise
any
apparent
conflict
of
interest,
he’s
just
a
right-wing
shitposter.
But
with
trust
in
the
Supreme
Court
at
historic
lows,
one
would
expect
the
justices
might
want
to
be
more
cautious
about
nakedly
ideological
meetings.
It’s
one
thing
to
sit
down
with
a
right-wing
law
professor
or
go
on
a
junket
with
a
Biglaw
partner
and
write
it
all
off
as
a
legal
conversation.
It’s
quite
another
to
have
dinner
with
Catturd.
Yes,
for
those
keeping
score,
Ben
Shapiro
falls
somewhere
between
Catturd
and
Jonathan
Turley.
And
that’s
not
as
wide
a
gap
as
you
might
think.
But
it
also
wouldn’t
be
surprising
if
famous
figures
in
the
conservative
ecosphere,
not
unlike
Shapiro,
might
start
meeting
with
Thomas
as
part
of
a
charm
offensive
to
convince
the
justice
to
get
out
of
the
way.
While
Shapiro
is
very
much
on
the
record
that
seniors
should
never
retire
and
toil
until
they
die,
that
presumably
doesn’t
apply
to
someone
whose
continued
service
might
someday
backfire
and
accidentally
restore
rights
to
women
or
something.
Hoping
to
avoid
a
Ruth
Bader
Ginsburg
redux,
expect
Republicans
to
turn
up
the
volume
on
their
senior
pet
justices
in
order
to
replace
them
with
younger
judges
to
consolidate
unaccountable
power
for
another
generation.
Though
if
they
want
Thomas
out
of
his
seat,
they’d
best
figure
out
how
to
get
the
man
paid
because
retired
justices
don’t
get
free
vacations!
So
if
Shapiro
met
with
Thomas
today,
expect
this
to
be
the
start
of
a
string
of
conservatives
meeting
with
the
justice
to
keep
him
on
track
to
retire
soon.
One
presumes
these
guests
will
be
picking
up
the
checks.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
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