Thou shalt not question our platonic overlords
By 
It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late [gift link]:
Amid collapsing public confidence in U.S. courts, a federal judge has been found culpable of misconduct. The offense? Questioning the ethics of a Supreme Court justice.
U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor published an essay in the New York Times arguing that the display of flags associated with President-elect Donald Trump’s MAGA movement at Justice Samuel Alito’s Virginia and New Jersey homes was a breach of public trust. The piece was unusual because judges don’t typically offer personal criticisms of a colleague in public.
According to the jurist assigned to review the matter, Chief Judge Albert Diaz of the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., it was Ponsor who damaged the judiciary. In a previously unreported order filed last week, Diaz found that by commenting on controversial issues and criticizing Alito, Ponsor violated the code of conduct that applies to all federal judges other than Supreme Court justices.
Among other transgressions, Ponsor, a 1994 Clinton appointee who sits in Springfield, Mass., was found to violate rules against actions that “detract from the dignity” of a judge’s office and harm “public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”
The judiciary has reason to be concerned about its perception. A Gallup survey published Tuesday found that public confidence in America’s courts had fallen by 24 percentage points since 2020, to a historic low of 35%.
The idea that it is pointing out the misconduct of powerful judges as opposed to the misconduct itself that is undermining the legitimacy of the courts is the kind of logic that will ensure that the public confidence trend will continue to crater. Over to you, Warren and David: