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☆ Justice Clarence Thomas didn't disclose yet another trip with Harlan Crow, senator says
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-05 | by ( Alice Tecotzky | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewSupreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas missed publicly disclosing another jaunt on billionaire and conservative megadonor Harlan Crow's private jet, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon alleged in a letter on Monday. According to the letter, Thomas and his wife, Virginia Thomas, took a round-trip flight on Crow's private jet from Hawaii to New Zealand in November of 2010. In the past, Thomas has said that he doesn't think he needs to disclose gifts from friends who don't have business before the court. Related storiesAt the end of his letter, Wyden requests a "detailed list of all flights Justice Clarence has taken on any private jets under Mr. Crow's ownership or control." AdvertisementWhen Thomas does list travel from Crow, he calls them "personal hospitality."

Persons: —, Clarence Thomas, megadonor Harlan, Democratic Sen, Ron Wyden, Thomas, Virginia Thomas, Wyden, ProPublica, Clarence, Crow, Biden Organizations: Service, Democratic, Oregon, New Zealand, Business, Senate Finance Committee, New York Times Locations: Hawaii, New, New Zealand, Crow

☆ Justice Thomas Failed to Reveal More Private Flights, Senator Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-05 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Justice Clarence Thomas failed to publicly disclose additional private travel provided by the wealthy conservative donor Harlan Crow, a top Democratic senator said in a letter on Monday. Customs and Border Protection records revealed that the justice and his wife, Virginia Thomas, took a round trip between Hawaii and New Zealand in November 2010 on Mr. Crow’s private jet, according to the letter. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, writing to Mr. Crow’s lawyer, demanded that he supply more information about the financial relationship between the two men. The letter, part of an inquiry that Mr. Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has opened into Mr. Crow and the justice, comes as top Democrats have urged major changes to the Supreme Court, including an enforceable code of conduct.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, Virginia Thomas, Ron Wyden, Crow’s, Wyden, Crow Organizations: Democratic, . Customs, Border, New Zealand, Mr, Democrat, Senate Finance Locations: Hawaii, New, Oregon

☆ Justices Thomas and Alito Ignored Calls for Recusal in Jan. 6 Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Adam Liptak | More About Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., rejecting calls for their disqualification, participated in the case, siding with a member of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Experts in legal ethics have said that the activities of the justices’ wives raised serious questions about their impartiality. Virginia Thomas, known as Ginny, helped shape the effort to overturn the 2020 election. But he recused himself in October from a case concerning John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who had advised Mr. Trump. Justice Thomas, for whom Mr. Eastman had served as a law clerk, gave no reasons for his decision to disqualify himself from that case.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Samuel A, Alito Jr, Virginia Thomas, Ginny, “ Biden, Ms, Thomas, Mark Meadows, Donald J, Trump’s, John Eastman, Trump, Justice Thomas, Eastman Organizations: Capitol

☆ Opinion: What Alito’s flag controversies say about the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Julian Zelizer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —If Chief Justice John Roberts is really an institutionalist — someone deeply concerned about the integrity of the Supreme Court and public perceptions about it — then he has a big problem on his hands. The discovery also comes at a time when the Supreme Court will be making a decision about Trump’s claims of sweeping presidential immunity, his get-out-of-jail-free card for the federal cases he faces. The notion that the Supreme Court can be trusted to be an arbiter above partisan politics has suffered major blows in recent years. Supreme Court decisions have not been the only issue. The Alito flag controversy is another blow to the image of the court.

Persons: Julian Zelizer, ”, John Roberts, —, Samuel Alito —, Donald Trump, Alito, Alito hasn’t, Trump, SCOTUS, “, Dobbs, Roe, Wade, Clarence Thomas ’, Virginia Thomas, Thomas ’, Roberts, George W Organizations: CNN, Princeton University, Twitter, Supreme, New York Times, Jackson, Health, Annenberg Public, Center, Pew Research Center, Republican Locations: New Jersey, Virginia, Vietnam, Florida

☆ Display at Alito’s Home Renews Questions of Supreme Court’s Impartiality
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Jodi Kantor | Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to issue two key decisions involving the storming of the Capitol on that day. The cases will shape the degree to which former President Donald J. Trump can be held accountable for his efforts to subvert the election. “These cases were always going to be seen through an ideological and partisan lens,” Michael C. Dorf, a Cornell law professor and former clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy, said in an interview. An upside-down flag, a popular symbol with Trump supporters contesting President Biden’s victory, appeared on Justice Alito’s front lawn in January 2021, The New York Times reported based on photographs and interviews with neighbors. It hung on the Alitos’ flagpole days before the inauguration, a little over a week after the Capitol riot and while the Supreme Court was considering taking up an election case.

Persons: Samuel A, Alito Jr, Donald J, Trump, Michael C, Anthony Kennedy, “, you’ve, Clarence Thomas’s, Virginia Thomas, Biden’s Organizations: Capitol, Cornell, Republican Party, Trump, The New York Times

☆ 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

☆ 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

☆ Liz Cheney says Ginni Thomas was 'deceived' by 'untrue election fraud nonsense'
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Liz Cheney is clearly alarmed at the direction Virginia "Ginni" Thomas took after the election. Ginni Thomas' texts to Mark Meadows were uncovered during the House January 6 investigation. AdvertisementFormer Congresswoman Liz Cheney is disappointed in how Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, has continued to spout disproven claims about the 2020 presidential election. "I was disappointed that Ginni Thomas had been deceived by the demonstrably untrue election-fraud nonsense," Cheney wrote in "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning" which was published on Tuesday. Cheney wrote that she had known Virginia "Ginni" Thomas for decades.

Persons: Liz Cheney, Ginni, Thomas, Ginni Thomas, Mark Meadows, Cheney, —, Virginia Thomas, Clarence Thomas, Trump, Mark, Biden, Sidney Powell's, Powell, Joe Biden Organizations: Trump, Service, White House Locations: Virginia, Meadows, United States

☆ 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

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

☆ John Roberts Is Harming the Institution He Wants to Protect - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Jeff Shesol | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In June 2012, at the end of a contentious Supreme Court term that decided, among other things, the fate of the Affordable Care Act, Chief Justice John Roberts prepared to leave for Malta, to teach a course on the court. Such circumstances would pain any chief justice, this one more than most. The chief justice is portrayed by some as a tragic figure, powerless to save his court from itself. But the tragedy of John Roberts is that he does have the power to restore some measure of the court’s reputation — he just hasn’t used it. This term will likely be remembered as the year the Supreme Court, led by its chief justice, ended race-conscious admissions at the nation’s colleges and universities.

Persons: John Roberts, “, ”, Walter Bagehot, Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, —, Thomas’s, Virginia Thomas Organizations: Affordable, White, ProPublica, The New York Times Locations: Malta, “ Malta, “, Alabama, Congress

☆ Opinion: Clarence Thomas’ inability to fill out forms properly defies belief
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Opinion Steven Lubet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has had to explain decades of omissions on his annual financial reports. As a Supreme Court justice, Thomas routinely interprets complex statutes that affect millions of Americans, priding himself on close adherence to the text. It beggars belief that he could repeatedly misinterpret plain statutory requirements and simple instructions on his annual disclosure reports. Supreme Court justices have life tenure. That is why full compliance with financial disclosure laws is so important, and why Thomas’ evasiveness is so wrong.

☆ Justice Thomas Failed to Report Real Estate Deal With Texas Billionaire
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas did not disclose that he had sold a string of properties to a longtime conservative donor from Texas in 2014, ProPublica revealed on Thursday. The transaction is the first known instance of money going directly from the billionaire donor, Harlan Crow, 73, to the justice, in what appears to be a direct violation of disclosure requirements. The revelation cast greater scrutiny on Justice Thomas, who has long raised eyebrows over questions of conflicts of interest, in part because of the political activism of his wife, Virginia Thomas. The disclosures have fueled calls by Democratic lawmakers and court transparency advocates for the justices to face tighter ethics constraints. In 2014, a real estate company linked to Mr. Crow bought a single-family home and two vacant lots on a quiet Savannah street, paying $133,363 to Justice Thomas and his family for the property, ProPublica said.

☆ Ginni Thomas told the Jan. 6 committee she 'regret' texting Mark Meadows about a 'coup' and pushing Sidney Powell's 'Kraken' plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Virginia "Ginni" Thomas she regrets her text messages and posts sent in the wake of the 2020 election. "I regret all of these texts," Thomas, who goes by Ginni, told the panel during a closed-door deposition in September. The closest Ginni Thomas came to acknowledging any political conversation with Justice Thomas was a reference to her "best friend" bucking her up on November 24th. "I wish I could remember, but I have no memory of the specifics," Thomas told the panel of the conversation with her husband. The Washington Post and CBS' publication of Ginni Thomas' texts with Meadows in March caused a public firestorm, especially among Democrats.

☆ Key things to watch out for in the Jan. 6 report beyond Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Michael Conway | Michael Conway Was Counsel For The House Judiciary Committee In The Impeachment Inquiry Of President Richard Nixon In In That Role | He Assisted In Drafting The Committee'S Final Report To The House In Support Of The Three Articles Of Impeachment Adopted The Committee. Conway Is A Graduate Of Yale Law School | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The expected recommendation that former President Donald Trump be prosecuted would be a political thunderbolt. For initial news reporting, journalists will gravitate to it rather than the report itself, and so will the general public. The expected recommendation that former President Donald Trump be prosecuted would be a political thunderbolt. On Thursday, House Democrats introduced legislation to bar Trump from holding federal office in the future. For prosecutors who have subpoenaed key witnesses to testify to a federal grand jury, this would create a unique advantage.

The Jan. 6 committee's ninth and likely final investigative hearing Thursday will feature new testimony and evidence, including Secret Service records and surveillance video. ET, will not include any live witnesses, a committee aide said. All nine committee members are expected to lead segments of the hearing. That’s a departure from this summer when each of the eight hearings featured only a few panel members at a time. Part of the committee's charge is to issue legislative recommendations to prevent another Jan. 6 attack, and some panel members Thursday will present on the ongoing threats to democracy that remain.

☆ Next Jan. 6 committee hearing will reveal 'pretty surprising' new material, Rep. Zoe Lofgren says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The committee's ninth public hearing will touch on the "close ties between people in Trump world and some of these extremist groups," Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said in a CNN interview. "There's some new material that, you know, I found as we got into it, pretty surprising." Later that same week, the committee interviewed Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for about 3.5 hours. Thomas was not videotaped during her interview with the committee, Lofgren said over the weekend in an MSNBC interview. The committee also faces an end-of-the-year deadline to submit a final report to the president and Congress containing its findings.

☆ Jan. 6 Capitol riot committee interviewing Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, moderates a pannel discussion titled "When did World War III Begin? The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is interviewing Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, NBC News reported Thursday morning. Virginia Thomas, who goes by Ginni, arrived at a Capitol Hill office building flanked by security, NBC reported. A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., previously confirmed that the panel would interview Ginni Thomas this week.

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