The case of Clarence Thomas’s new clerk taints the entire judiciary
Justice #Clarence#Thomas has hired #Crystal#Clanton to be one of his law clerks, the most elite assignment a young law school graduate can secure.
The shock is this:
In 2015, when Clanton was 20
and working for a conservative group allied with the justice’s wife, #Ginni Thomas,
Clanton apparently sent racist texts to a fellow employee:
“I HATE BLACK PEOPLE,”
one text read.
“Like f--- them all … I hate blacks. End of story.”
(In Clanton’s text, the expletive was spelled out.)
It is impossible to overstate the prestige that attaches to a Supreme Court clerkship.
The job is a golden ticket awarded to just 36 each year
— about 1 in 1,000 law graduates, the best of the best.
Major law firms lure Supreme Court clerks with signing bonuses of a half-million dollars.
Clanton, who graduated from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in 2022, will be the third high court clerk from that institution since 2021.
The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer unearthed Clanton’s texts in 2017, in an article about 🔹 Turning Point USA🔹, the conservative youth organization run by #Charlie#Kirk.
Notably, 🔸Clanton, the group’s field director🔸, didn’t deny writing the texts.
“I have no recollection of these messages and they do not reflect what I believe or who I am and the same was true when I was a teenager,” she wrote in an email to Mayer.
How Leonard Leo Weaponized the Courts Against Democracy | The Nation
The Federalist Society, formed in 1982, was the perfect vehicle for forging a right-wing legal cadre and funneling it into the legal system.
Leonard Leo joined the Federalist Society in 1986, forming a chapter of the group at Cornell where he was studying law.
As he rose in the ranks, Leo was an important player in the political campaigns to win Senate approval for Supreme Court justices such as Clarence #Thomas, John #Roberts, and Samuel #Alito.
During the Bush administration, when the Department of Justice wanted to “launder and distribute” a white paper in support of a contentious nominee, they turned to Leo.
Viet Dinh, a Department of Justice official who was also a prominent member of the Federalist Society, e-mailed, ”Tell len leo [sic] I need this distributed asap.”
The Federalist Society was thus organically tied to the Republican Party:
When nominees ran into headwinds, Leo would lead the charge with media campaigns to rally support.
By 2016, the role of the Federalist Society as the essential gatekeeper of Republican judicial nominees was recognized by presidential candidate #Trump, who promised the right-wing base, “We’re going to have great judges, conservative, all picked by the Federalist Society.”
The network Leo brought together comprises three cords:
♦️the GOP (which needed conservative judges),
♦️the legal profession (where young lawyers were hungry for a pathway to judges),
♦️and plutocratic donors (eager for judges that supported plutocracy and right-wing politics).
💰Money was a crucial component of this network.
George Conway, a former Republican who had been active in the Federalist Society, told ProPublica,
“There was always a concern that Scalia or Thomas would say, ‘Fuck it,’ and quit the job and go make way more money at Jones Day [a big law firm] or somewhere else.
Part of what Leonard does is he tries to keep them happy so they stay on the job.”
This explains the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by right-wing judges as they vacation and cavort with robber barons such as Harlan #Crow and Paul #Singer.
The judges get to enjoy the lifestyle of the 1 percent despite earning a government salary.
While the Supreme Court is the big prize, the conservative legal movement that Leo forged worked to reshape lower courts as well as state courts, helping to promote not just right-wing judges but also district attorneys.
Sometimes the lobbying was demagogic. Politico reports,
Leo became interested in Wisconsin in 2008.
An incumbent state Supreme Court justice, Louis #Butler, had angered the state’s largest business group with his ruling in a lead paint case.
The ensuing ad campaign was contentious and expensive, featuring commercials showing Butler, who is Black, next to the picture of a sex offender who was also Black.
The #racist demagoguery of that judicial race is of a piece with the way Republican jurists have so often worked to curtail voting rights.
The whole claim that #originalism was meant to enhance democracy has been revealed as a fraud.
The same #antidemocratic tendency can be seen in the way the court is working to limit president Biden’s agenda, as in the recent decision in
👉Biden v. Nebraska overturning student debt relief—a measure that was in the Democratic Party platform when Biden won the election.
The goal was to create an ideologically committed faction that could dominate the courts and advance its agenda without democratic check.
Congressional Representatives giving speeches bemoaning scotus justices’ pay not keeping up with inflation while also doing nothing to address minimum wage not keeping up with inflation, especially when the justices were and are already paid far more than the average American is paid, is…unsustainable.
'#Corruption, Plain and Simple': Gifts Flowed to #Thomas After Salary Complaints
"What a coincidence," Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. wrote in response to ProPublica's latest revelation. "Corrupt Clarence Thomas should resign from the #SCOTUS"
Thomas complained about his salary to a Republican congressman more than 20 years ago, setting off concerns that the right-wing judge would resign and deprive the conservative movement of one of its most powerful champions.
Supreme Court Finally Adopts An Ethics Code. Except It Has No Teeth.
The code "does not appear to contain any meaningful enforcement mechanisms to hold justices accountable," said Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin.
Note the vague denial from Thomas's attorney - he simply said that "the terms of the agreement were satisfied in full", but did not provide any specifics nor actually claim that all funds received were fully repaid.
The real questions for #Thomas are exactly how much he paid back, and when. Only then could it be determined whether this is graft or a big misunderstanding.
@Miro_Collas I'm not sure if everyone understands that when a debt is forgiven, it must be declared as income. The way to get rid of #Thomas & his wife is for the IRS to step in. There are dozens of questions about how he has handled the many "gifts" he has received. I'm not sure which one, but there is a Congressional committee that can ask for all his tax returns. The only thing holding that back is the GOP majority, which is why it should be an #IRS led investigation. The GOP can't interfere
Justice Thomas’s R.V. Loan Was Forgiven, Senate Inquiry Finds
The justice failed to repay much, perhaps all, of the $267,230 loan. His benefactor wiped the slate clean, with ethical and potential tax consequences.
Cheney responded that “he cannot be the next president.”
“If he is, all of the things he attempted to do, but was stopped from doing by responsible people around him at the Department of Justice, at the White House counsel's office, all of those things he will do,” Cheney said. “There will be no guardrails.”
Throughout American history, there have been instances where Supreme Court justices have been embroiled in corruption scandals.
Today we have #Thomas relationships. He has come under fire for surreptitiously receiving luxury vacations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican megadonor #HarlanCrow, a real estate deal (including the home where his mother was living)
It’s Not Personal: Why Clarence Thomas’ Trip To The Koch Summit Undermines His Ethics Defense
Even by Thomas’ own permissive interpretation, the justice’s recently revealed travel to Palm Springs and the Bohemian Grove appear to violate the disclosure law, experts explained.
What Kind of Person Has a Closet Full of Nazi Memorabilia?
selling Nazi-related paraphernalia or an auction attracts attention because it’s being held on Yom Kippur. And every once in a while it comes to light that someone of note has a collection of #Nazi artifacts. Most recently, there was Harlan #Crow, the billionaire benefactor of Justice #Thomas. Mr. Crow’s collection is reported to include a couple of Hitler paintings, Nazi linens and a signed copy of “Mein Kampf”
by Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott & Alex Mierjeski @ProPublica
#Thomas has attended at least two #Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a #political network that has brought multiple #cases before the #SupremeCourt.
Charles & David #Koch’s access to #ClarenceThomas has gone well beyond his participation in their #donor events. For years, the #KochBrothers had opportunities to meet privately w/ #Thomas thanks to the justice’s regular trips to the #BohemianGrove, an all-male retreat that attracts some of the nation’s most #influential#corporate & #political figures. Thomas has been a regular… for 25 yrs as #HarlanCrow’s guest, acc/to internal docs & interviews w/dozens of members, other guests & workers….
“…we’re seeing…someone who is living his professional life in a way that’s seeing… #extrajudicial opportunities as a #perk of the office,” said Charles Geyh, #JudicialEthics expert at IU law. Judges have social lives…& there are no clear lines for when a social gathering could pose a problem. But the confluence of #powerful#political actors & #undisclosed#gifts puts #Thomas’ trips far outside norm for judges’ #conduct, Geyh said: “There’s a culture of impartiality that’s really at risk here.”