Literal rent-seeking. Bunch of filthy leeches.
“rent-seeking” has nothing to do with “seeking rent” or “renting something”.
Rent-seeking is the act of growing one’s existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, risk of growing political bribery, and potential national decline.
Successful capture of regulatory agencies (if any) to gain a coercive monopoly can result in advantages for rent-seekers in a market while imposing disadvantages on their uncorrupt competitors. This is one of many possible forms of rent-seeking behavior.
In a normal corrupt system, lobbyists have to bribe lawmakers. In the US, the court is now an unrepresentative unelected legislature with no accountability. It’s another level of corruption.
An amicus curiae brief is literally translated as friend of the court. It does not mean they are “friends” of court officials or that there’s corruption afoot. It nearly means they are adding their professional opinion on a court proceeding they believe to be in need of it.
Amicus curiae (“friend-of-the-court”) briefs are briefs written by individuals or groups who are not directly involved in a legal case, but have expertise or insight to offer a court to assist in making its decision.
In case you were wondering.
In no way are they related. You seem to have not understood the definition. It’s a latin phrase used to refer to writings submitted on behalf of a side in a court case as an ex parte expert on the subject at hand. It has nothing to do with lobbying or actual friends of court officials.
I think you are missing fully half of the story here.
If someone gives you lavish gifts, free luxury vacations, use of their private jet, all-expenses paid vacation cruises, you start thinking of that person as a ‘friend’, no?
In this case, ‘friend of the court’ clearly has double meaning because the amicus curiae is also simultaneously one and the same person as the billionaire gift giver I described earlier. In layman’s terms, it’s bribery.
Jesus Christ, no one can afford rent now. Why do they want to price themselves out of business?
Access to the full article locked behind ‘free subscription’ signup page. :(
I was hoping to see that actual names of the ‘friends’ of the court so that I could see their relationships with individual court justices (particularly to see if they are among the ‘friends’ who’ve gifted lavish gifts upon any of the justices). It’s disgusting that having to do this research is even a thing - most of the current justices haven’t been impartial in decades (some of them never).
Edit: I finally read the full text of the article. For anyone who guessed that Justice Clarence Thomas received a series of lavish undisclosed and unreported gifts from one of the real estate moguls involved in this, YOU WERE CORRECT! Just another case of some rich people attempting to purchase judgments from the supreme court and getting away with it.
