By Joel Thurtell
Staff Writer
A former congressman named Charles Diggs spent seven months in prison in 1978 for what reportedly is routine behavior by three justices on the U. S. Supreme Court.
According to the April 30, 2023 New York Times, Supreme Court justices
Neil M. Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Brett M. Kavanaugh “regularly used employees in their chambers to coordinate their outside academic duties despite a judicial advisory opinion — which the justices say they voluntarily follow — that staff members should not help ‘in performing activities for which extra compensation is to be received.’ ”
Is the U.S. Justice Department concerned that federal employees are being paid to do private work for the justices? This is the same Department of Justice that in 1978 cracked down on civil rights activist then Detroit’s congressman.
Diggs was convicted of assigning congressional aides to work in his family’s funeral parlor and then submitting false federal pay claims for them.
“Despite the prohibition against enlisting court staff members to help with paid outside work,” the Times reported, “records show that much of the labor of keeping up with the justices’ teaching and other activities at Scalia Law fell to the chambers’ administrative staff — organizing class materials and student papers, managing student visits and coordinating guest lectures.”
“Justice Gorsuch’s staff used the justice’s login to create an online “forum/discussion” space for students and post readings, and submitted his grades to the school,” according to the Times. “The staff of Justice Thomas requested his class roster and collected his syllabus, helping tack down missing reading materials. Justice Kavanaugh’s chambers inquired about when he would get his paychecks, and whether he would get a raise.”
How is working in a private funeral parlor different in principle from Supreme Court employees acting as support staff for the justices’ outside jobs?
Federal prosecutors called Diggs’ offense fraud. And so it was — forcing federal employees to work for his personal business and submitting pay claims asserting they were doing congressional work pretty well defines fraud.
Will Attorney General Merrick Garland assign a special counsel to investigate payroll fraud at the Supreme Court?
Equal treatment before the law. Call it the Diggs Standard: what applies to a black civil rights activist also applies to Supreme Court justices.
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
