This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. In a rare public statement, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas responded…
It’s important to remember that Clarence would be BFFs with billionaire Harlan Crow even if he weren’t an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court and was just the janitor.
The 1787 Constitution says nothing about accepting the gift of flights on a private jet.
Case closed, morans.
Gee! Is there a pattern here? Well, omg.
‘I was in Tahiti, but I was thinking of Walmart’.
Justice Clarence Thomas
“no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends.”
So Harlan has been bribing others with his ‘hospitality’?
Time for him to disclose any and all that have been public officials and subject to disclosure and ethics laws.
Yeah, he invites Crow on his private jet and superyacht all the time.
It’s long overdue for DOJ to investigate Thomas’s corruption and self dealing that corruptly influence his jurisprudence. It’s not like Thomas took a $20 lunch from a buddy. It’s a pattern of bribery and corruption that spans 20 years. Numerous federal laws prohibit this, and DOJ has to do its job.
For all pending and new matters parties need to file motions to recuse Thomas on any case where those bribing him take a position. No more pretending Thomas isn’t a crook.
From the report:
“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas said…
Dear Justice Thomas,
Just who are those colleagues and others in the judiciary? Name those “colleagues” and the “others.” What did they say? This is reminiscent of Trump’s “a lot of people are saying…” ruse.
But seven legal ethics experts consulted by ProPublica, including former ethics lawyers for Congress and the White House, said the law clearly requires that gifts of transportation, including private jet flights, be disclosed. If Thomas is arguing otherwise, the experts said, he is incorrect.
IOW, Thomas is ethically compromised, and does not know the law. His judgement cannot be trusted to be free from right-wing ideology.
“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas said in the statement.
So totally not his fault, right? Blame the person who’s now underneath a bus.
ETA: Those colleagues are now lined-up for their turn in the barrel. How many decisions have been tilted toward the interests with the most luxurious yachts?
And to show his gratitude, Crow regularly donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to his wife’s PTA fundraisers.
“His wife’s PTA”
Pay Thomas Association
Basically, Scalia told him how to scam the rules and he did so for years & years.
Now he drags his “colleagues” down, implying they are all corrupt.
Maybe they are. One really really likes beer.
Note by Thomas by his own admission they only became friends after he was Justice Thomas, could I have become BFF with Justice Thomas?
Or is this the price of being friends with Justice Thomas?
Every 5-4 decision for which Club for Growth or the Hoover Institution submitted an amicus brief should be considered invalid or at least have an asterix next to it. And you know who Thomas “consulted” for “ethics advice.” Fucking Scalia who was even more brazen in his corruption.
This is Thomas to a T. Thinly veiled contempt, for us, for rules, for the truth.
Here’s the line-up, can you identify the evildoer?
As much distaste as I might have for a couple of the people shown, I have a hard time thinking that even they would say “Hey Clancy, we have to fill out these forms but there are holes you could drive a truck through - so Partayyyyy!! and don’t worry about getting caught.”
They did see to it 3/4 of the populace would belong to a well regulated militia.
Quite honestly, this is a strong basis for a future (non-corrupt) Court to look at and potentially overturn any decision which Thomas participated in the majority.
