The Massey Decision

Today SCOTUS decided HUGH M. CAPERTON, et al., PETITIONERS v. A. T. MASSEY COAL COMPANY, INC., et al., better known as the Massey case or colloquially as buying a judge. I generally agree with the decision, depending on where or if a bright line is drawn. Predictably, there are those who disagree.

On writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Justice Scalia, dissenting: "The decision will have the opposite effect. What above all else is eroding public confidence in the Nation’s judicial system is the perception that litigation is just a game....."

Quite true. Almost anyone outside the legal profession, and more than a few inside, are pretty sure that them that got, get. Justice Scalia's remedy seems to be a circuitous variation of "trust us". We are asked to pretend that elected judges don't keep generous names in their rolodex in preparation for the next election. Meanwhile, money still talks, just not in quite so public a fashion.