Your ethics-free administration

Once again, the ethics-free Bush administration out-does itself.

Think Progress -- BREAKING: “Independent” Ethicist Defending Roberts Actually A Pentagon Consultant (emphasis theirs):

In April, Judge John Roberts “heard arguments about the Bush administration’s policy [on military commissions in Guantanamo] as he was discussing a Supreme Court appointment in private conversations with the White House.” On July 15, “when Judge Roberts met with President Bush for the job-clinching interview, he joined a ruling in favor of the defendants, who included Mr. Bush.”

In an article that has recieved considerable attention by the media, Stephen Gillers, David J. Luban, and Steven Lubet – three respected legal ethicists – argue that Roberts conduct was unethical. They noted “[f]ederal law deems public trust in the courts so critical that it requires judges to step aside if their ‘impartiality might reasonably be questioned,’ even if the judge is completely impartial as a matter of fact.”

To rebut their claims the papers are quick to turn to another legal scholar, Professor Ronald Rotunda who argues that Roberts did nothing wrong. Here’s what they don’t tell you: until very recently Ronald Rotunda was employed as a military advisor to the Department of Defense on military commissions – the exact subject of the case in controversy.

These people have no shame.

However, what's worse is that the press's continued incompetence is what is hurting us the most. As the TP post goes on to say that the NYT, WaPo, Newsday and FoxNews didn't bother to mention this additional conflict of interest in defense of a conflict of interest claim! It's enough to make one want to scream.

Look, I really don't care that Roberts is a conservative. I expected nothing less from the Bush administration. He's replacing a conservative on most issues (except womens rights) anyway.

However, when the administration seems to have given the nomination to the Supremes to someone before whom they had an important (to them) active case... with the case being decided on the very day that Roberts had the clinching interview... sorry, but there is but one conclusion that you can draw from that given this administration's track record.

Worst. administration. ever.