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☆ Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Consumer Watchdog’s Funding
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge on Thursday to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded, one that could have hobbled the bureau and advanced a central goal of the conservative legal movement: limiting the power of independent agencies. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion. “Under the appropriations clause,” he wrote, “an appropriation is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes. The statute that provides the bureau’s funding meets these requirements. We therefore conclude that the bureau’s funding mechanism does not violate the appropriations clause.”

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, ” Organizations: Consumer Financial, Treasury

Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas arrives for the swearing-in ceremony of Neil Gorsuch as an Associate Supreme Court Justice in the Rose Garden of the White House, Washington, D.C., April 10, 2017. Two leading Democratic senators are pressing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to say whether he repaid a wealthy friend any of the principal for a $267,230 loan he used to buy a luxury motorhome. The letter to Thomas's lawyer, dated Tuesday, raises questions about potential tax violations by the conservative justice, who is the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court. Democrats point to reports that his wife, Ginni Thomas, took part in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump's immunity appeal on April 25, with Thomas on the bench.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Ron Wyden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Thomas, Anthony Welters, Prevost Le, Wyden, Elliot Berke, Whitehouse, Justice Thomas, Welters, Berke, ProPublica, Harlan Crow, Harlan, Donald Trump, Ginni Thomas Organizations: Justice, White House, D.C, New York Times, Finance Committee Locations: Rose, Washington, Welters

☆ Opinion | Justices Speak, and Are Greeted With Dissent
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And yet, these are the facts: He accepted lavish gifts from powerful friends and failed to report them. His wife was indisputably involved in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the duly elected new one. Which Justice Thomas plainly detests when applied to minorities, because (I guess) he believes that it belittles the accomplishments of those who receive a helping hand. I’ve doubted Justice Thomas’s judgment in the past; now I doubt his advocacy skills in general. Because his arguments are self-pitying and unpersuasive.

Persons: Thomas, Clarence Thomas, Ginni, I’ve, Thomas’s Organizations: Ivy League

☆ Justice Thomas Denounces ‘the Nastiness and the Lies’ Faced by His Family
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Justice Clarence Thomas denounced on Friday “the nastiness and the lies” that have shadowed him in recent years as public scrutiny has mounted over his wife’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election and luxury gifts he has accepted from billionaire friends. It amounted to some of the most extensive public remarks he has made since revelations that he failed to disclose years of lavish trips from wealthy conservatives, like the Texas real estate magnate Harlan Crow, including on private jets and a superyacht. “My wife and I, the last two or three years, just the nastiness and the lies,” said Justice Thomas, who did not specify what he was referring to in addressing a full ballroom of lawyers and judges gathered for a judicial conference in Alabama. “There’s certainly been a lot of negativity in our lives, my wife and I, over the last few years, but we choose not to focus on it.”The justice faced calls for recusal after text messages and emails showed that his wife, Virginia Thomas, known as Ginni, sought to overturn the election, appealing to administration officials and lawmakers. Justice Thomas has continued to participate in a number of cases related to the 2020 election, including three about Jan. 6 on the docket this term.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, “, ”, Thomas, “ There’s, Virginia Thomas, Justice Thomas Locations: Texas, Alabama

☆ Election Updates: Barron Trump will be a delegate at the Republican Convention.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

“I worry about fundamental freedoms across the board.”Asked what specific legal precedents could be undone by the court, Ms. Harris demurred, saying she was “hesitant” to do so. Image At a campaign event in Elkins Park, Pa., on Wednesday, Ms. Harris cast abortion rights as an issue of personal freedom. She said she judged Mr. Trump based on his conduct, adding that she had never met him personally. “I think they might do that,” Mr. Trump said of states’ monitoring of women’s pregnancies in an interview with Time magazine last month. Ms. Harris said she was not worried that such efforts could help Mr. Trump win support from voters who support abortion rights.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Biden’s, Clarence Thomas, ”, Harris, “, Harris demurred, Harris’s, Biden, Donald J, Trump, John Roberts, Roe, Wade, Thomas’s, Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Mr, Kavanaugh, Justin T, Sheryl Lee Ralph, “ It’s Organizations: The New York Times, Mr, Trump, Time, “ Abbott, Biden, United Locations: “, San Francisco, Pennsylvania, California, Elkins Park, Pa, Washington, United States

☆ The New York Times and The Washington Post Win 3 Pulitzers Each
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York Times and The Washington Post received three Pulitzer Prizes each on Monday for a wide array of journalism that spanned conflict and injustice around the globe, including the plight of child migrant workers in the American Midwest, the lethal consequences of war in the Middle East and the brutal repression of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The prize for public service, considered the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, went to ProPublica for exposing a web of questionable financial entanglements involving Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. The series, which revealed that Justice Thomas failed to disclose lavish gifts he had received from wealthy supporters, prompted the court to issue a new ethical code of conduct. The prize for investigations went to Hannah Dreier of The Times, for an exposé of migrant child labor in the modern United States, and the governmental blunders and disregard that have allowed the illegal practice to persist. This was the second Pulitzer awarded to Ms. Dreier, who won the 2019 feature writing prize for her coverage of the criminal gang MS-13 for ProPublica.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Clarence Thomas of, Thomas, Hannah Dreier, Dreier Organizations: New York Times, Washington Post, U.S, Supreme, The Times Locations: American Midwest, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, United States

☆ Donald Trump again is trying to bend the Supreme Court to his will
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Joan Biskupic | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —When he was president, Donald Trump tried to make the Supreme Court his own. In a video earlier this month, Trump announced his campaign position on abortion, including his personal thanks – one-by-one – to the Supreme Court justices who had voted against the 1973 Roe v. Wade milestone. Lower court judges ruled against Trump, saying whatever immunity he might have enjoyed as president ended when he left office. Beyond the substance of cases, Roberts and Trump clashed memorably when Trump in 2018 disparaged a US trial judge in partisan terms. At the Supreme Court, lawyer John Sauer will represent Trump, as he did before the DC Circuit.

Persons: Donald Trump, Roe, Wade, Trump, Jack Smith, Joe Biden, “, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, –, ’, Clarence Thomas, Virginia “ Ginni ” Thomas, Thomas, ”, ” Smith, Nixon’s, Ford’s, ” Trump, Juan Merchan, John Roberts, Roberts, Vance, Smith, Obama, it’s, ” Roberts, Bush, Clinton, Madison, Richard Nixon, Nixon, Fitzgerald, Marbury, John Sauer, Trump’s, Michael Dreeben, Dreeben Organizations: CNN, Supreme, Trump, Social, Democratic, DOJ, US Justice Department, Jackson, Health Organization, recusal, DC US, Trump rejoined, Madison, DC Circuit, Department of Justice Locations: America, Dobbs v, Washington, New York, Colorado, Florida, United States, Manhattan, Marbury, Marbury v, Fitzgerald, “

☆ Your questions about Trump’s immunity claim at the Supreme Court, answered
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The US Supreme Court, after refusing to hear the claim on an expedited basis, took up the case after a lower court tore Trump’s immunity claim to shreds. We asked for your questions about the immunity claim, some of which I’ve tried to answer below with help from CNN’s reporting and Supreme Court reporters. When Smith asked justices to expedite the case and consider Trump’s immunity claim before an appeals court, they declined. If Trump’s immunity claim is upheld by the Supreme Court, what can anybody or any government body do to challenge the decision? MichaelThe Supreme Court is the final word on legal matters, so there is no higher authority to overrule its decision.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, I’ve, Chris, CNN’s, Joan Biskupic, Jack Smith, Donald Trump’s, Biden, Here’s, Thomas, Jan, Greg, Clarence Thomas, John Eastman, Gilbert None, Trump – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett –, he’ll, Randall, Smith, it’s, Shouldn’t, Gore, John, Devan Cole, ” Cole, Cole, Juan Here’s Biskupic’s, Nixon, Fitzgerald, Richard Nixon, ”, It’s, acquit, ’, Curt Trump’s, George Washington’s, Nixon’s, Gerald Ford, Ford, Michael, Charles, SCOTUS, Sheryl, Massachusetts Nobody, convicting, Joe, Johnson Organizations: CNN, US, Trump, DC, DC Circuit, Supreme, Iowa Trump, White, House, Department Locations: Iowa, Arizona, Bush, California, Colorado, Brady, United States, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, The, York, Washington , DC, Massachusetts, Mississippi

☆ How Justice Thomas’s ‘Nearly Adopted Daughter’ Became His Law Clerk
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Steve Eder | Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The email went out to members of Justice Clarence Thomas’s law clerk network late last month celebrating his newest addition to an exclusive club. “Crystal Clanton’s clerkship for OT ’24 was announced by Scalia Law today!” wrote an assistant to Virginia Thomas, the justice’s wife, who is known as Ginni. The email referred to the 2024 October term of the court, and the tone was jubilant: “Please take a look at these posts of congratulations and support. In 2019, at the Thomases’ urging, Ms. Clanton enrolled at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in Virginia, where Justice Thomas has taught. She received a full merit scholarship, according to another judge who later hired her.

Persons: Clarence Thomas’s, Scalia, ”, Virginia Thomas, Clanton, ” Ms, Thomas, Antonin Scalia Organizations: Scalia Law, Antonin, George Mason University Locations: New York, Virginia

☆ Supreme Court’s New Ethics Code Is Toothless, Experts Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Adam Liptak | More About Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the heart of much of the debate over the new ethics code is which conflicts require recusal and whether justices should decide those questions for themselves. Justice Thomas, for instance, took part in cases on the 2020 election and its aftermath, even though Virginia Thomas, his wife, had participated in efforts to overturn the results. The new code does not say what can be done to address situations like that, said Renee Knake Jefferson, a law professor at the University of Houston. It does not apply to Supreme Court justices. There was a grudging quality to an introductory statement that preceded the new code, one that all but conceded that it was for show.

Persons: Justice Thomas, Virginia Thomas, Renee Knake Jefferson, ” Organizations: University of Houston, Judicial

☆ Opinion | We Waited 200 Years for This Supreme Court Ethics Code?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Jesse Wegman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

“One of the themes we’ve heard from Chief Justice Roberts and others is essentially this message of: Just trust us. In recent months, Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett have publicly supported the adoption of an ethics code. The most glaring defect of the new code is its complete lack of any enforcement power. And yet the absence of any discipline or enforcement was the central flaw that led to calls for an ethics code in the first place. “A justice should not allow family, social, political, financial or other relationships to influence official conduct or judgment.” Well, sure.

Persons: we’ve, Justice Roberts, ” Alicia Bannon, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, ”, bender, What’s, —, Thomas, Alito Organizations: Brennan Center for Justice, Times

☆ Clarence Thomas Didn’t Fully Repay $267,230 Loan for Luxury Motor Home, Senate Report Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Jess Bravin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Justice Clarence Thomas hasn’t disclosed his tax returns, so it isn’t publicly known whether he reported any income related to the vehicle. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersWASHINGTON—Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas didn’t report on required financial disclosure forms that a friend forgave some or all of a $267,230 loan, according to a report released Wednesday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden . “The new evidence obtained by the Committee raises a number of potentially serious tax questions for Justice Thomas,’’ said the report prepared by the committee’s Democratic staff.

Persons: Clarence Thomas hasn’t, Evelyn Hockstein, Clarence Thomas didn’t, Ron Wyden, Justice Thomas, ’ ’ Organizations: WASHINGTON —, Senate Finance, Democratic

☆ Clarence Thomas ruled against student debt relief. Now a Senate panel alleges his healthcare exec pal forgave his $267,230 loan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Senate committee found that Clarence Thomas had a substantial loan forgiven by a wealthy friend in 2008. Thomas' friend, healthcare exec Anthony Welters, loaned him over $260,000 that Thomas used to purchase a luxury RV. The findings came four months after Thomas joined a majority Supreme Court opinion striking down Biden's student debt forgiveness plan. The Senate Finance Committee said Thomas didn't report the loan on his ethics forms. "Justice Thomas should inform the committee exactly how much debt was forgiven and whether he properly reported the loan forgiveness on his tax returns and paid all taxes owed.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Anthony Welters, —, Joe Biden, Biden, Thomas ', Welters, Thomas didn't, Oregon Sen, Ron Wyden Organizations: Service, White, New York Times, Committee, Finance Locations: Oregon

[1/2] U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses during a group portrait at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., October 7, 2022. Durbin said the "undisclosed, forgiven" loan demonstrates the need for a binding code of conduct for the court. The documents showed that Welters forgave the loan in 2008, according to the findings. The Senate Judiciary Committee in July approved a Democratic-backed bill that would mandate a binding ethics code for the justices. Thomas and Welters did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Evelyn Hockstein, Thomas, Anthony Welters, Dick Durbin, Durbin, Welters, Ron Wyden, Elliot Berke, Berke, Harlan Crow, Steven Lubet, Lubet, Stephen Gillers, Andrew Chung, John Kruzel, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, REUTERS, Rights, Welters, Democratic, hobnobbing, Senate, New York Times, Texas, Crow, Northwestern University, New York University, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, New York, Washington

☆ Justice Thomas’s R.V. Loan Was Forgiven, Senate Inquiry Finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Jo Becker | More About Jo Becker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Only then would the principal come due. But despite the favorable nature of the 1999 loan and a lengthy extension to make good on his obligations, Justice Thomas failed to repay a “significant portion” — or perhaps any — of the $267,230 principal, according to a new report by Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee. Nearly nine years later, after Justice Thomas had made an unclear number of the interest payments, the outstanding debt was forgiven, an outcome with ethical and potential tax consequences for the justice. “This was, in short, a sweetheart deal” that made no logical sense from a business perspective, Michael Hamersley, a tax lawyer who has served as a congressional expert witness, told The New York Times. The Senate inquiry was prompted by a Times investigation published in August that revealed that Justice Thomas bought his Prevost Marathon Le Mirage XL, a brand favored by touring rock bands and the super-wealthy, with financing from Anthony Welters, a longtime friend who made his fortune in the health care industry.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Justice Thomas, ”, Michael Hamersley, Anthony Welters Organizations: Democratic, Senate Finance, New York Times, Times

☆ Clarence Thomas Never Paid Back Luxury RV Loan, Senate Inquiry Finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Senate Finance Committee found Clarence Thomas never paid back a $267,230 loan from a rich friend. The New York Times previously reported Thomas used the loan to buy a luxury RV. AdvertisementAdvertisementSupreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spent $267,230 on a luxury RV with a loan from a wealthy friend, but never fully paid it back, the Senate Finance Committee said Wednesday. The committee said Thomas paid interest payments on the loan but never paid a "substantial portion" of the loan, and possibly never paid back any portion of the principal. He did not answer additional questions about how much Thomas had paid back on the loan.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, —, Anthony Welters, Welters, it's Organizations: Finance, New York Times, Service, Senate Finance, The New York Times, Supreme, Times

☆ Harlan Crow, the GOP megadonor and pal to Clarence Thomas, maxed out his campaign donation to a self-described 'non-Marxist socialist' trying to defeat Joe Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Crow, a major player in GOP politics, described West as "a good friend" during a WSJ interview. Justice Thomas faced scrutiny after ProPublica reported that he took luxury trips funded by Crow. AdvertisementAdvertisementBillionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow maxed out a donation to Cornel West, the progressive academic and 2024 independent presidential candidate, according to the latest FEC filings. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, per NBC News, as several major GOP donors are looking to get behind the strongest challenger to Donald Trump's presidential bid. AdvertisementAdvertisementTrump currently remains the favorite to capture the GOP presidential nomination, as he maintains sizable leads in national surveys and most statewide primary polling.

Persons: Harlan Crow, Cornel West's, Justice Thomas, ProPublica, —, Cornel West, Crow, Joe Biden's, We've, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, didn't, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump's Organizations: Crow, Service, West, Green Party, Marxist, Wall, Princeton University, Harvard University, Democratic Party, Republican, Press, Motown, Gov, NBC, GOP Locations: Silicon Valley, Florida, South Carolina

On the heels of that decision, a federal appeals court invalidated a federal law that bars an individual who is subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. A three-judge district court panel struck down the plan in January, saying that race had been the predominant motivating factor. Three years ago, the Supreme Court limited the independence of the CFPB by invalidating its leadership structure. The court’s decision could impact whether the SEC and other agencies can conduct enforcement proceedings in-house, using administrative courts staffed with agency employees, or whether such actions must be brought in federal court. “It’s difficult to think of any other recent First Amendment cases in which the stakes were so high,” Jaffer added.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, ”, Biden, Zackey Rahimi, John Roberts, Taiwan Scott, Thomas, Elizabeth Prelogar, Magnuson, Paul Clement, ” Clement, “, pare, George Jarkesy, Sackler, ” Prelogar, Jameel Jaffer, Jaffer Organizations: CNN, Gun Safety, South Carolina’s Republican, South Carolina State Conference of, NAACP, Democrat, Republican, National Marine Fisheries Service, Chevron, Natural Resources Defense, Stevens Fishery Conservation, Management, Independent, Consumer Financial, Federal Reserve, US, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Securities, Exchange, US Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Social Security Administration, Circuit, Historic Purdue Pharma, Purdue Pharma, Sackler, Purdue, Facebook, YouTube, Columbia University’s Locations: United States, South Carolina, Alabama, Taiwan, Charleston County, Chevron, Florida, Texas

☆ Ken Burns would like you to know he doesn't hang out with Clarence Thomas
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Taylor Berman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A new ProPublica story features a photo of filmmaker Ken Buns with Clarence Thomas and David Koch. But Burns released a statement making it clear he doesn't know Thomas. But more shocking to many was the lead photo, which featured star PBS documentarian Ken Burns sandwiched between Thomas and David Koch. Other than the taking of that photograph and innocuous pleasantries, that's the extent of his contact with Justice Thomas." So now we know: Ken Burns and Clarence Thomas are not pals, according to Burns.

Persons: Ken, Clarence Thomas, David Koch, Koch, Burns, Thomas, ProPublica, Ken Burns, he's, Justice Thomas Organizations: Service, PBS, Yorker, Supreme, Hollywood Locations: Wall, Silicon, Vietnam

☆ Analysis: Here’s why many Black people despise Clarence Thomas. (It’s not because he’s a conservative.)
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

CNN —Long before he became a Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas told a story at a public gathering that still sounds shocking years later. Justice Clarence Thomas jokes with his clerks in his chambers at the Supreme Court building in Washington in 2016. AP“His entire judicial philosophy is at war with his own biography,” Michael Fletcher, co-author of “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas,”. “He’s arguably benefited from affirmative action every step of the way.”Thomas has admitted that he was accepted at Yale Law School under an affirmative action policy. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas looks at the displays inside the Pin Point Heritage Museum.

Persons: CNN — Long, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Ronald Reagan, ” Thomas, Diana Walker, Thomas ’, Emma Mae Martin, he’s, Harlan Crow, Crow, ”, Sen, Sheldon Whitehouse, Chip Somodevilla, “ fawning, Reagan, John L, Nikki Merritt, Merritt, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Roe, Wade, ” Sen, Alyssa Pointer, Anita Hill’s, Uncle Tom, Thomas “, Juan Williams, “, Armstrong Williams, ” Williams, Amul Thapar, Jonathan Ernst, ” Thomas ’, Thomas doesn’t, they’ve, Thurgood Marshall, ” Michael Fletcher, “ He’s, I’d, Critics, White, Malcolm X, Richard Burkhard, you’ve, pounced, “ Clarence Thomas, Black, ” Tori Otten, ” Otten, ” Juan Williams, Virginia “ Ginni ” Thomas, Trump’s, John Duricka, Williams, — Trump, Booker T, Washington, Marcus Garvey, Obama, ” “ We’ve, –, “ It’s, “ Thomas, Steven Ferdman, Jim Crow, Frederick Douglass, ” Clarence Thomas, nodded, ” Merritt Organizations: CNN, White House, Commission, Texas Republican, Republican, National Bar Association, Democrat, Georgia Senate, Georgia State Capitol, NAACP, Supreme, National Museum of, Thomas Others, Reuters, Yale Law School, Catholic, College of, Cross, AP, Yale, Heritage Museum, Savannah Morning, USA, The, New, Morehouse College, Fox News Channel Studios, Reagan Administration, Bettmann Locations: Storm, Texas, New York, Washington, Memphis, Georgia, handouts, Atlanta, American, America, Cincinnati, Pin, Savannah , Georgia, New Republic, Wisconsin, Arizona, Virginia, Black, China, India, Brazil, New York City

☆ Justice Thomas Defended Himself Over Ethics Questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In his disclosure, Thomas addressed his decision to fly on a private jet belonging to the billionaire, Harlan Crow. Thomas said that he had been advised to avoid commercial travel after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion. Thomas also defended his past filings, which did not include many of the trips with Crow and other wealthy friends, insisting that he had adhered to all judicial regulations. Unlike other federal judges, Supreme Court justices are not bound by formal ethics rules. Instead they follow what Chief Justice John Roberts has referred to as “ethics principles and practices.”

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Harlan Crow, Roe, Wade, John Roberts, ” Organizations: Crow Locations: Texas

☆ Clarence Thomas' lawyer says a billionaire bought his mom's house because it was in a blighted neighborhood full of junkies and they wanted her to keep living there
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Taylor Berman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Billionaire Harlan Crow bought Clarence Thomas' mom's house — which the justice partly owned — in 2014. The sale was undisclosed, raising questions about the ethics of billionaires secretly doing business with Supreme Court justices. Despite the obvious ethical concerns of a Supreme Court justice doing business with a billionaire, the sale was never disclosed, and only came to light thanks to ProPublica's reporting. "In 2014, Harlan Crow, a longtime friend of Justice and Mrs. Thomas, visited Savannah with Justice Thomas," the statement from Elliot S. Berke reads. "Mr. Crow indicated he wanted to preserve the home for a possible museum and asked his team to review the idea of doing so.

Persons: Harlan Crow, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Crow, Justice Thomas, Elliot S, Berke, Mr, he'd, Williams, ProPublica, Berke didn't Organizations: Service, Supreme Locations: Wall, Silicon, Savannah

CNN —Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed Thursday that Republican megadonor Harlan Crow paid for private jet trips for Thomas in 2022 to attend a speech in Texas and a vacation at Crow’s luxurious New York estate, as ethics questions continue to rock the Supreme Court. Thomas made the disclosures after receiving an extension to file the yearly reports that were originally due in May 2023. In a statement after the ProPublica report, Thomas acknowledged the friendship but stressed that Crow did not have business before the court. In addition, he said that he should have disclosed a 2014 private real estate deal between Crow, Thomas and members of Thomas’ family. According to the disclosure, Thomas flew down to be the keynote speaker of the event in February, but returned via private jet “due to an unexpected ice storm.”The talk was rescheduled in May and Thomas rode round trip on Crow’s plane.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, Thomas, Dobbs, Roe, Wade, “, Crow, Samuel Alito, ProPublica, Thomas ’, ” Thomas, Virginia Thomas, Leola Williams, Williams, VII, –, Elliot S, Berke, Thomas “, ”, Sen, Sheldon Whitehouse, Chip Somodevilla, Elena Kagan, Alito, ” Alito, Gabe Roth, he’s, ” Roth, Rome Alito, Duke Organizations: CNN, Republican, Judicial Conference, Old Parkland Conference, Hoover Institution, Manhattan Institute, American Enterprise Institute, Black Americans, Crow Holdings, Democrats, Supreme, Capitol, Rhode Island, Wall Street, Notre Dame, School’s, Liberty Initiative, Religious Liberty Summit, Regent University School of Law, Duke Law School Locations: Texas, New York, Georgia, Savannah , Georgia, Washington ,, Rome

☆ Justice Thomas Reports Private Trips With Harlan Crow
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | More About Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But Justices Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. requested 90-day extensions, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which collects and publishes the forms. Mr. Crow treated the justice on a series of lavish trips, including flights on his private jet, island-hopping on his superyacht and vacationing at his estate in the Adirondacks. Mr. Crow also bought the justice’s mother’s home in Savannah, Ga., and covered a portion of private school tuition for the justice’s great-nephew, whom he was raising. Other wealthy friends have hosted Justice Thomas, including David L. Sokol, the former heir apparent to Berkshire Hathaway. In the years that followed, Mr. Singer repeatedly had business before the court.

Persons: Thomas, Samuel A, Alito Jr, Thomas’s, Harlan Crow, ProPublica, Crow, David L, Berkshire Hathaway, Anthony Welters, underwrote, Prevost, ” Justice Alito, Paul Singer, Singer Organizations: Administrative, U.S . Courts, Sokol, ” Locations: Texas, Savannah , Ga, Berkshire, Washington, Alaska

☆ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and House Democrats push Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Clarence Thomas' lavish gifts from billionaires
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A group of House Democrats has asked the DOJ to investigate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The letter stated that Thomas should be investigated because of the dozens of gifts he failed to disclose. On Thursday, after ProPublica published its latest report, a chorus of Democrats called on Thomas to resign, according to Politico. In April, Crow and Thomas first faced scrutiny related to the 20 years worth of undisclosed trips Crow is accused of gifting to Thomas, per ProPublica. The outlet later reported that Crow purchased Thomas' mother's house and allowed her to live there without paying rent.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Garland, Harlan Crow, ProPublica, Crow, unearthing, SCOTUS, Jamie Raskin, Hank Johnson, Ted Lieu, Jerry Nadler, Thomas's, gifting, Thomas —, —, Michaela Rose, John Roberts Organizations: House Democrats, DOJ, Service, Supreme, of Justice, GOP, Democrats, Politico, Reps, Dallas Morning News, ProPublica, SCOTUS Locations: Wall, Silicon, Alexandria, Rochelle

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