Corruption in the SCOTUS

Sure looks like she should have recused and another example of a lack of ethics oversight in the court. It's only 9 justices. How hard can it be to hold them accountable to some basic ethical standards? Looks like only a matter of time before we learn something about every justice.

 

Can Roberts continue to ignore this?

 

Billionaire Harlan Crow paid tuition for Justice Thomas' grandnephew, report says (msn.com)
A new report on Thursday alleged even deeper financial ties between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.
According to ProPublica, Crow paid for private school tuition for Thomas' grandnephew Mark Martin, whom Thomas said he was raising as a son.

The publication said Crow paid $6,200 monthly tuition for Martin's attendance at Hidden Lake Academy in 2009, citing a bank statement and an interview with a former administrator at the school. That former administrator told ProPublica Crow told him he also paid for Martin's tuition at Randolph-Macon Academy, which he attended before Hidden Lake Academy.
The total amount paid by Crow is unclear but could have exceeded $150,000, the outlet reported. Thomas didn't report the payments on his financial disclosure filings, though he did disclose another $5,000 gift for Martin's education from another individual in 2002.

 

Dear Harlan, it appears you have lost your BFF and I just wanted you to know I’m up for the private jet, yachting excursions you are so fond of. We can be besties. Call me - we can hang.
PS I’ve already opened college fund accounts for my grandkids.

 

And to think, regular government employees can't even accept gifts over $25.

 

And why would Leonard Leo try so hard to keep Ginni Thomas’s name off the payroll? Anyone?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/05/04/leonard-leo-clarence-ginni-thomas-conway/

Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents show. The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case.

 

He really, really doesn't like documenting bribes?

 

Opus Dei

 

Mr Leo stated: Knowing how disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people can be, I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni.”

in other words the liberals made me do it

 

If we don’t document the corruption, there is no corruption.

 

"Knowing that y'all would criticize my bribe, I hid it."

 

Above the law, accountable to no one. Perfect

 

What I find interesting is USAToday isn't covering the Sotomayor story at all but has a Thomas article LOL. IF we are comparing which is worse, the Sotomayor issue is much more serious since she actually ruled in a case where she took $3Mil from the publisher she later ruled in favor of. Wonder why people don't trust our media...

USA TODAY - Breaking News and Latest News Today

 

Two more where cases involving company that paid justices and they did not recuse themselves and company prevailed. Can the senate refuse to fund the court until they adopt an ethics code?

2 Supreme Court justices failed to recuse themselves from cases involving their publisher after receiving exorbitant amounts in book advances and royalties

There have been two cases that came before the Supreme Court involving publishing conglomerate Penguin Random House. In both situations, the Supreme Court declined to take on the copyright infringement cases, allowing the publisher to win at a lower court level.
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was confirmed in 2009, was on the high court during both cases, which occurred in 2013 and 2019-2020. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed in 2017 and was also a member of the Supreme Court during the second case.

 

I like Ben Wittes’ thinking

But it leaves out an obvious one.

There are no separation of powers problems, after all, with the Senate Judiciary Committee issuing a subpoena to Ginny Thomas to discuss the $25,000 “consulting” payment she received from Leonard Leo and the astonishing gratuities her family has received from billionaire Harlan Crow. There is no reason the committee couldn’t demand testimony from Leo himself, or from Crow to discuss their payouts to the justice and his wife. All such demands would have an entirely legitimate legislative purpose, given that Congress is trying to figure out what it can do legislatively to force the Supreme Court to live by some reasonable code of ethical conduct. Perhaps the prospect of his wife and friends being dragged for hours in front of a congressional committee might incentivize Thomas to appear himself by way of cleaning up his own mess.



Irving Berlin and I Should Work Together More Often

 

Ethics complaints about Justice Thomas date back more than 10 years - as does the stonewalling.
Justice Thomas Ethics Review Questioned by US Court Leader in 2012

More than a decade ago, a member of the US court system’s leadership body raised red flags about its handling of public allegations of wrongdoing against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Those concerns spurred internal process changes, but no additional probe of the justice’s conduct. Now, under renewed pressure following reports about the justice’s relationship with a GOP megadonor, the judiciary’s governance arm is again being asked to investigate one of its most powerful colleagues.

In 2011, Thomas had come under scrutiny for failing to report years of income earned by his wife, Ginni Thomas, a conservative political consultant and activist. Wolf repeatedly expressed concern that the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judiciary’s policymaking body, was being kept in the dark and shut out from potentially doing its own review of the complaints, according to letters, internal reports, and other materials reviewed by Bloomberg News in addition to two people familiar with the matter.

 

They are guaranteed their compensation. Beyond that, yes.

 

Senate dem told Crowe to volunteer records of every penny and bene to SCOTUS or he would use committee to put a microscope up his arse.

Democrat gives Clarence Thomas friend Harlan Crow an ultimatum.

 

Although it's really obvious it never actually occurred to me. It's almost as if there is a direct link between Opus Dei and the Federalist Society and the conservative Catholic Justices on the Court.
Supreme Court Judges Sharing an Opus Dei Seal of Approval - Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
Right-wing Catholics control the US Supreme Court
Opus Dei: Supreme indecency, extreme deceit | NationofChange