Legal and political experts are expressing #outrage and #disgust after ProPublica's latest investigation into the alleged unethical and unlawful actions of U.S. Supreme Court Justice #Clarence#Thomas, with some demanding his resignation and others calling it "#corruption of the highest level," "#PayToPlay.," and one simply saying, "This #sickens me."
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.
During the summit, the justice went to a private dinner for the network’s #donors. #ClarenceThomas has attended #Koch donor events at least 2x over the yrs, acc/to interviews w/ 3 fmr network employees & 1 major donor. The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such #access would encourage donors to continue giving.
That puts #Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a #fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the #SupremeCourt, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term.
Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to PalmSprings on his annual #financial#disclosure form, an apparent #violation of #federal#law…. A #Koch network spox said the network did not pay for the #PrivateJet. Since Thomas didn’t disclose it, it’s not clear who did pay.
#ClarenceThomas’ involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship w/the #KochBrothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a #secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California. #Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for 2 decades, where he stayed in a small camp w/real estate #billionaire#HarlanCrow & the Kochs….
In a series of stories this yr, ProPublica reported that #ClarenceThomas has accepted undisclosed luxury travel from #HarlanCrow & a coterie of other ultrawealthy men. #Crow also purchased #Thomas’ mother’s home & paid private school tuition for the child Thomas was raising as his son. Thomas has said little in response. In a stmnt earlier this yr, he said that Crow is a close friend whom he has joined on “family trips.” He has also argued that he was not required to disclose the free vacations…
After shepherding the case to the #court, #Koch network staff #attorneys are now asking the justices to overturn a decades-old #precedent. (#Thomas used to support the precedent but flipped his position in recent yrs. 🤔)
2 years ago, one of the network’s groups was the plaintiff in another #SCOTUS case, which was about #nonprofits’ ability to keep their #donors#secret. In that case, Thomas sided w/the 6-3 #conservative majority in the Koch group’s favor.
#Thomas’ appearances were arranged w/the help of #LeonardLeo, the #FederalistSociety leader, acc/to the fmr snr #Koch network employee. “Leonard was the conduit who would get him,” the former employee said. During one summit, Thomas gave a talk w/Leo in an interview format, the #donor recalled.
While attending the #donor events would likely #violate the lower courts’ prohibition on #fundraising, experts said, #SCOTUS has a narrow internal definition of a fundraiser: an event that raises more money than it costs or where attendees are explicitly asked for money while the event’s happening.
On the Thurs before the Jan 2018 summit in Palm Springs, #Thomas flew there on a chartered #PrivateJet….
4 days later, the plane flew to an airport outside Denver, where #Thomas appeared at a ceremony honoring his fmr clerk, federal Judge Allison Eid. The next day, it flew back to northern VA where Thomas lives.
Thomas’ financial disclosure for that year contains 2 speaking engagements: one in NYC & another at a #FederalistSociety conference in TX. His trip to the #Koch event in CA is not on the form.
The first glimpse of #ClarenceThomas’ connection to the network came more than a decade ago. In 2010, reporters obtained an invitation sent to potential #Koch#donors that mentioned #Thomas had been “featured” at one of the network’s previous summits.
After critics called for more info about Thomas’ attendance, the #SCOTUS press office downplayed the episode. A court spox acknowledged Thomas had been in the Palm Springs “area” during the Kochs’ Jan 2008 summit.
However, she said #ClarenceThomas was there to talk about his memoir at a #FederalistSociety dinner that was separate from the donor summit but was also sponsored by Charles #Koch. She added that he made a “brief drop-by” at the network summit that yr but said he “was not a participant.” (#Thomas disclosed the 2008 Palm Springs trip as a Federalist Society speech.)
Clarence Thomas Secretly Served as 'Fundraising Draw' for Koch Network
Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men's retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who've spent time with him there."
Supreme Court justices do not have a binding code of ethics.
House Democrats Urge IRS Investigation Into #SCOTUS ‘Bribes’
Three House Democrats are requesting the IRS “confirm” if gift taxes were paid by billionaire benefactors to #Thomas and #Alito after reports show both jurists received luxury vacations and other items of worth.
“Today my colleagues and I are calling on the IRS to probe all the free gifts republican judges clarence thomas and sam alito have gotten and whether taxes were ever paid on all these bribes,”
Black people don't despise Clarence #Thomas because he's a #conservative. They reject him because they say he's a "#hypocrite" and a "#traitor" who hurts his own people to help himself.
Clarence Thomas Filing Acknowledges Harlan Crow Real Estate Deal, Private Jet Travel
Supreme Court Justice #Clarence#Thomas for the first time acknowledged that he should have reported selling real estate to billionaire political donor Harlan Crow in 2014, a transaction revealed by ProPublica earlier this year.
Writing in his annual financial disclosure form, Thomas said that he “inadvertently failed to realize” that the deal needed to be publicly disclosed.
In the form, which was made public Thursday after he’d received an extension on the filing deadline, Thomas also disclosed receiving three private jet trips last year from Crow. #ProPublica reported on two of those trips.
@heidilifeldman@Dahlialith It’s a devastating, spot-on piece. There must be a way to broadly call out the right wing’s “we’re the real victims here” m.o. The #GOP is the Party of Personal Responsibility™️ for everyone but themselves. Manipulative, mewling, privileged, “poor us!” bullies. It’s infuriating and insidious.
“You see, it’s not him. It’s you. You’re making the justices fly on private flights. Look what you made him do.”
Clarence #Thomas Discloses Three 2022 Flights on Right-Wing Billionaire's Private Jet
Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said the filing "won't deter us from fully investigating the massive, secret, right-wing billionaire influence in which this court is enmired."
"For years, Thomas has used his position on our nation's highest court as a way to upgrade his own lifestyle—and that hasn't stopped," Herrig added.
New filings reveal more luxury trips and opaque payments to Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni.
NEW: Financial disclosures revealed that Ginni Thomas was paid $700,000 by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group that has weighed in on Supreme Court justice confirmation processes, filed multiple amicus briefs and had cases before the Court.