One of the most fearless and inspiring guests we’ve had on KK&F is Steven Donziger, the lawyer known for taking on Chevron over their environmental destruction and harm to farmers and indigenous people in Ecuador. If you’ve followed Steven’s story, you’ll remember that he was given a six-month jail sentence back in September of 2021, found guilty of criminal contempt charges on the basis of a refusal to give up personal electronic devices. Now, just yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, which rested on the case that a federal court district judge acted outside of his powers in putting Donziger’s case in the hands of three special prosecutors. While the liberal Supreme Court justices voted to reject the appeal, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh dissented, with Gorsuch writing the following in the dissent:
However much the district court may have thought Mr. Donziger warranted punishment, the prosecution in this case broke a basic constitutional promise essential to our liberty. In this country, judges have no more power to initiate a prosecution of those who come before them than prosecutors have to sit in judgment of those they charge.
The dissenting opinion is a fascinating insight into conservative justices’ views on what’s at stake in the Donziger case, and of course, we’re also asking why the liberal justices didn’t see fit to consider the appeal. This week we will have a chance to hear from Donziger himself about this injustice from the so called liberals on the highest court. Paying subscribers will have access to the full video on Friday. Everyone else can tune in for the audio on Saturday when it’s released on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcasts, and more.
I kept thinking I was reading that statement wrong about the liberal judges rejecting the appeal, and two of the conservative justices dissenting. How anyone can't see how crooked and corrupt this prosecution was, when it is so blatantly obvious is way beyond me.