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Supreme Court justices make life/death decisions, but could they carry your mail?

A modest proposal to elevate street-level government ethics to big marble buildings

By Craig Cole Guest Writer

I was planning to give our very diligent U.S. mail carrier a thank-you gift for the holidays, but I thought I should first check on the ethics of the matter. 

It turns out that mail carriers have to comply with the ethical standards for executive branch employees of the federal government. This means that they can’t accept anything of more than $20 in value per event (like the Christmas or New Year holidays), with a total combined yearly maximum of $50.

Then, coincidentally, I read about U.S. Supreme Court Chief John Roberts complaining that the Court “can’t get no respect,” as the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield liked to say. A recent annual survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that 56% of Americans now do not trust the Supreme Court. In 2005, 75% said they did trust the court. 

This plummet in trust is unlike that seen in other wealthy nations, and it is attributed to various possibilities, like the court’s decisions on reproductive rights and presidential immunity. If I were a postal carrier, I might be pointing to something else: the court’s ethical lapses. After all, 72% of Americans have a favorable view of the U.S. Postal Service, according to Pew Research, the No. 2-ranked agency (under the National Park Service).

Maybe it is because they can’t take huge gifts from rich people. The contrast is stunning.

It has been documented that Justice Clarence Thomas has received over $4,000,000 in gifts since joining the court, most initially unreported as required. That amount in gifts to this one Justice would cover 2 million allowable gifts (of $20) to U.S. Postal carriers, or about six gifts to each of the 332,000 carriers nationally. Apparently being a Supreme Court Justice does not require the rigorous ethical standards applied to your local mail carrier. It’s good being King!

It’s bad enough having Thomas on the Supreme Court, but I am grateful that he isn’t my mail carrier.  However, I don’t like to criticize without offering solutions, and this is the time of year when good intentions are often formulated. Being constructive, I suggest that the nation’s highest court could aspire to the trust accorded the U.S. Postal Service by adopting these New Year Resolutions (as I have written in a letter to the Chief Justice):

Hon. John Roberts, chief justice

U.S. Supreme Court

1 First St. NE

Washington, D.C. 20543

RE: Suggested New Year Resolutions for the Supreme Court

  1. We will endeavor to rectify the reputation of the court for being overly political in our decisions.
  2. We will embrace a new, enforceable code of ethics so that the Roberts Court will not go down in history as one of the most corrupt.
  3. We will protect our democratic institutions in the face of challenge from billionaires and would-be dictators.
  4. We will clarify that the concept of immunity does not protect a president (or justices) from blatantly lawless actions.
  5. We will stop taking things of value from outside of the stream of official (or otherwise specifically authorized) compensation, so as not to appear to be accepting thinly veiled bribes.
  6. We will embrace the kind of humility that recognizes that we nine people are not necessarily the smartest or wisest people in the nation.

Respectfully submitted,

Craig Cole

PS: I have enclosed $1 each for Justices Thomas and Alito, who seem to like gifts. Justice Thomas — I don’t expect that you will report this gift. If you do, however, you could call it a loan; one that, obviously, you won’t be expected to repay.

When I get a response, which should come any day now, I will let everyone know.

*Gifts to Justice Thomas tracked by Fix the Court, a non-partisan, nonprofit advocacy group, June 6, 2024.

**The number of mail carriers comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Craig Cole is a retired Bellingham business executive who has served on the WWU Board of Trustees, UW Board of Regents, Washington State Human Rights Commission, and the Board of Directors of Puget Sound Energy. He also is a stickler for ethics.

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