There’s trouble in paradise. Belying their public show of comity, in private the Justices of the U.S. Supreme are regularly at each others’ throats, “occasionally on the verge of fisticuffs,” according to multiple sources who work within the secretive institution.
Surprisingly, the vehement exchanges—which law clerks and others say were loud enough to be overheard through the thickest walls—aren’t always strictly based on partisanship. Sometimes they touch on such out-of-bounds dividing lines as gender, race, and even personal lifestyle.
Confidential exchanges were not always conducted at such a fever pitch, staff who have worked at the Court for years report. “Until the past year, the Judicial Handshake, which had been a tradition for more than a century, set the tone for private relationships,” said one law clerk who requested anonymity to preserve their future viability with the Federalist Society. “But now, well, all hell has broken loose. In my opinion, when it really amped up was with that book.”
“That book,” our investigation found, refers to a paperback copy of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, his dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the 17th Century Salem witch trials. Someone—presumably in the liberals’ camp—left the book on Justice Samuel Alito’s desk after he had completed his draft of the controversial Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The point was not lost on Alito, whose Dobbs opinion cited Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th century jurist who had sentenced women to death as “witches.”
Although Justice Stephen Breyer was still on the court at that time, Justice Alito immediately blamed one of the then two female Justices, Sonia Sotomayor. Staffers say that around that period was when they first heard occasional ethnic slurs referring to Hispanics drift out of the Justices’ private conferences, in voices that were identifiably male.
That seems to be when the dam really broke. “Next thing, you know, Justice Thomas is finding cans of Coca Cola—with strands of hair on them—on his desk and Justice Kavanaugh is receiving mailings, both at home and at work, from Alcoholics Anonymous, urging him to join,” reported a staff member close to both Justices.
While no one could determine whether it was actually a Justice, or a disgruntled staffer, behind these pranks, it didn’t matter. The Rubicon had been crossed.
“Poor Ketanji Brown Jackson,” lamented one staffer. “She had no idea what she was getting into.” By the Fall of 2022, early into her first term, Justice Jackson found herself the target of both racial animus and misogyny in a place one would least expect to find them, the United States Supreme Court, say Court staffers.
Within a week of her arrival, Jackson found in her office a blank application to apply to take the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), an obvious questioning of her qualifications as a Justice. Insiders are certain that this was sent by either another Justice or someone on their staff. As if that wasn’t enough, within weeks she was receiving copies of graphic news stories about pedophiles being acquitted or released from prison, another snipe—this time at Jackson’s background as a defense attorney.
Apparently, that was too much for some Justices, as law clerks reported hearing soon after someone at a closed meeting of the Justices calling another of the nine an “Uncle Thomas.” Another voice—a female voice that one law clerk said was unmistakeably that of Justice Amy Coney Barrett—was heard screaming at another, presumably male, Justice to “shove that blasphemous, misogynistic crap up your butt.”
And so, it appears, that the bitterness and lack of civility that has come to dominate our political discourse both in the media and in Congress has infected the chambers of our high court. Unfortunately, due to an oversight of America’s Founders, the Constitution offers no practical recourse to curb such behavior by those charged with upholding the most sacred principles of our nation.
Just waiting to see this piece pop up on Truth Social as "news"!