This Sotomayor report sure sounds pretty bad, huh?

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     July 13, 2023 Hi, senior news editor Jeremy Schulman here again. This time, I want to talk to you about Supreme Court corruption. There are a lot of allegations these days, so many that it can sometimes be tough to keep track of them all. It's harder still to know which ones to worry about most. [So I want to hear from you](: Which of the recent SCOTUS scandals [do you think are the worst](? And are there any that you think are overblown? While I'm [waiting for your thoughts](, I'll share some of my own views on the issue. First, a note of caution: With [so many scandals]( out there, it can be natural to lean on our political biases to help make sense of the situation—to assume that justices who rule in ways we don't like on guns or abortion are also the ones most likely to sell their votes to the highest bidder. That's probably why progressives on Twitter seized on a rather unconvincing [Guardian story]( and spent much of yesterday [baselessly accusing]( Clarence Thomas of accepting bribes. It's also why the [conspiracy theories]( about Brett Kavanaugh's credit card debt will never die. "The Supreme Court is corrupt because it’s conservative," the editor of the New Republic [declared]( recently. Of course, there has also been a deluge of truly disturbing, thoroughly reported Supreme Court ethics stories—and the most conservative justices have often seemed to be the worst offenders. ProPublica has led the way with groundbreaking investigations into the relationships that Thomas and Samuel Alito have with [billionaire political donors](. To my mind, the most concerning revelation was that [Alito had accepted free private jet travel]( from a hedge fund mogul who later had business before the court. Alito failed to recuse himself. Which brings me to an astonishing investigation [published this week by the Associated Press](—a story that some progressive Supreme Court critics seem less eager to talk about. It involves the court's most liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, who has been using her publicly funded court staff to cajole libraries and universities into buying hundreds of her books. According to the AP, Sotomayor's publisher, Penguin Random House, was deeply involved in efforts by Supreme Court staff to help distribute her book. And, like Alito, Sotomayor failed to recuse herself when a case involving Penguin was considered by the court. Sotomayor's behavior certainly doesn't amount to anything close to a crime. It's apparently not even a violation of the Supreme Court's ethics rules. But in my opinion, it's important for progressives to take it just as seriously as the questions swirling around the court's conservatives. As Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [told the Wall Street Journal](, it's "yet another sign of why the Supreme Court needs a major cleanup." [So what do you think?]( How bad is the ethics situation at the Supreme Court? Who are the biggest culprits? And what can be done to fix it? —Jeremy Schulman Advertisement [Hope Credit Union]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [The FDA Just Approved the First-Ever Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill in the United States]( Opill, a progestin-only birth control pill, should be available at pharmacies in 2024. BY JACKIE FLYNN MOGENSEN SPONSORED CONTENT BY HEIFER INTERNATIONAL   Free Goat Tote with Your Monthly Gift Heifer International is a global nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and poverty. As a monthly donor, you’ll give families the resources, education and opportunity to thrive. If you join now, we’ll send you your very own goat tote to say thanks. [Join today]( — and make a difference for a lifetime. [Trending] [Amazon drivers protest brutal conditions, including extreme heat]( BY TUSHAR KHURANA   [It's Not Just Trump. Right-Wing Defendants Keep Saying the DOJ Framed Them, Too.]( BY DAN FRIEDMAN   [DOJ says no immunity: Another E. Jean Carroll lawsuit against Trump can go forward]( BY RUSS CHOMA   [America isn’t all bad. This image proves it.]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG Advertisement [Hope Credit Union]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [Are you there, God? It's me, Shannon Hale.]( The next Judy Blume could be this Mormon children’s book author who writes about princes who wear pink. BY KIERA BUTLER [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755