Category: Justice Clarence Thomas

Ethics · Justice Clarence Thomas · Rep. Anthony Weiner · Supreme Court Of The United States

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Letter to Justice Thomas

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When I wrote an article recently, which implied that Anthony Weiner’s trouble with the media may have started out due to his sharp focus on Justice  Clarence Thomas’ ethics problems, many people seemed to scoff at the notion that Weiner’s problems may have been retaliation for him exposing Justice Thomas.

A Letter from Congressman Anthony Weiner

In February, 2011, armed with all these concerns, and anticipating the release of Thomas’ 2010 financial disclosure forms that would reveal Ginni Thomas’ Liberty Central income for the first time, a Congressman drafted a letter that was co-signed by 74 members of Congress, taking the issue of recusal and conflicts of interest directly to Clarence Thomas’ door.

Dear Justice Thomas:

As an Associate Justice, you are entrusted with the responsibility to exercise the highest degree of discretion and impartiality when deciding a case. As Members of Congress, we were surprised by recent revelations of your financial ties to leading organizations dedicated to lobbying against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We write today to respectfully ask that you maintain the integrity of this court and recuse yourself from any deliberations on the constitutionality of this act.

The appearance of a conflict of interest merits recusal under federal law. From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife’s financial stake in the overturn of healthcare reform is blurred. Your spouse is advertising herself as a lobbyist who has “experience and connections” and appeals to clients who want a particular decision – they want to overturn health care reform. Moreover, your failure to disclose Ginny Thomas’s receipt of $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a prominent opponent of healthcare reform, between 2003 and 2007 has raised great concern.

This is not the first case where your impartiality was in question. As Common Cause points out, you “participated in secretive political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the [5-4] decision” on the Citizens United case. Your spouse also received an undisclosed salary paid for by undisclosed donors as CEO of Liberty Central, a 501(c)(4) organization that stood to benefit from the decision and played an active role in the 2010 elections.

Given these facts, there is a strong conflict between the Thomas household’s financial gain through your spouse’s activities and your role as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. We urge you to recuse yourself from this case. If the US Supreme Court’s decision is to be viewed as legitimate by the American people, this is the only correct path.

We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
ANTHONY D. WEINER

Weiner followed this letter up with the Conflicted Clarence Thomas campaign, highlighting Thomas’ conflicts due to Ginni’s work and income, collecting signatures from citizens who shared his outrage, and making life very uncomfortable for Thomas and his die-hard supporters.

H/t: Angry Black Lady – Please read her extensive article on this topic entitled:  Clarence Thomas – The Original #Weinergate

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Ethics · Ginni Thomas · Justice Clarence Thomas · Justice Thomas' Ethics Issues · Rep. Anthony Weiner · Supreme Court Of The United States

Justice Thomas Caught Up In Yet Another Ethical Tangle

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Anthony Weiner’s last tweets before his political enemies decided to ‘take him down on Twitter’ seemingly had more red meat than anticipated. 

There is a back story in the Anthony Weiner fiasco that the media refused to acknowledge and that is:  the Justice Clarence Thomas ethics violations.  

Weiner was trying to bring the issue out in the open, but was side tracked with his own ethics issues…albeit a matter of personal behavior.  I won’t re-litigate the Weiner “scandal”, but I will say that he was on point in trying to reveal Ginni and Clarence Thomas’ ethics issues.  After all, Thomas is a Supreme Court Justice.

Will the media start paying attention now that the powers that be who wanted to see Rep. Weiner gone have moved on to other things?  Will the media finally do their job?

Here are Rep. Weiner’s last tweets on Justice Thomas just before all hell broke out for Weiner and Thomas went on with his ethically challenged life…

Lets review : for more than a decade #ConflictedClarenceThomas forgot nearly $800k on his filings. 4:43 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

Spouse of #ConflictedClarenceThomas has every right to work for whomever, but he must recuse himself. 4:33 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

For the first time #ConflictedClarenceThomas admits his spouse words for tea party org. 4:31 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

http://scr.bi/mwJ4IG #ConflictedClarenceThomas dumps his conflicts forms on friday before memorial day. #AhFreshAir 4:27 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

Think Progress

The New York Times reports on Justice Clarence Thomas’ longstanding — and highly fruitful — relationship with a leading conservative donor named Harlan Crow. Crow has donated nearly $5 million to Republican candidates and conservative organizations, including $100,000 to the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — and he has also been very generous to the Thomas family:

The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia, helping finance a Savannah library project dedicated to Justice Thomas, presenting him with a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and reportedly providing $500,000 for Ms. Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group. They have also spent time together at gatherings of prominent Republicans and businesspeople at Mr. Crow’s Adirondacks estate and his camp in East Texas. […]

Mr. Crow has not personally been a party to Supreme Court litigation, but his companies have been involved in federal court cases, including four that went to the appellate level. And he has served on the boards of two conservative organizations involved in filing supporting briefs in cases before the Supreme Court. One of them, the American Enterprise Institute, with Mr. Crow as a trustee, gave Justice Thomas a bust of Lincoln valued at $15,000 and praised his jurisprudence at an awards gala in 2001.

As the Times‘ article details, Crow also donated $1.3 million to help set up a museum that Thomas has been heavily involved in creating — an arrangement that could violate the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges if it wasn’t for the fact that the Supreme Court has exempted itself from this Code.

Sadly, Thomas’ relationship with Crow — and the even more troubling fact that he received a $15,000 gift from an organization that frequently files briefs before his Court — is merely the most recent example of many ethically questionable actions by Justice Thomas:

Unethical Fundraising: The Code of Conduct does not allow judges to “personally participate in fund-raising activities, solicit funds for any organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for that purpose,” except in very limited circumstances. Yet Justice Thomas attended a Koch-sponsored political fundraiser intended to fund the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks and media outlets. This attendance is technically legal, because of the justices exemption from the Code of Conduct, but the justices claim that they have long followed a policy of “look[ing] to the Code of Conduct for guidance” in determining when they may participate in fundraising activities.

Failure to Disclose: Federal judges and justices are required by law to disclose their spouse’s income — thus preventing persons who wish to influence the judge or justice from funneling money to them through their husband or wife. Nevertheless, Thomas falsely claimed that his wife Ginni — a lobbyist and high-earning member of the professional right — earned no non-investment income whatsoever while she was working at the right-wing Heritage Foundation. When asked to explain this error, Thomas — who is one of the nine people responsible for issuing binding interpretations of the nation’s founding document — claimed that he “misunderst[ood] the filing instructions.”

Potential Conflict of Interest: Ginni Thomas used to lead an organization that vigorously opposes the Affordable Care Act, and she even briefly signed a memo calling that Act unconstitutional. Ginni also may be earning lobbying fees for working to have this Act repealed. A team of conservative lawyers recently argued that such activities by a judge’s spouse requires the judge to recuse from the lawsuits challenging the ACA, but a defiant speech Thomas gave to the conservative Federalist Society leaves little doubt that he will not recuse.

A Financial Stake in His Own Decisions?: Ginni Thomas may also be getting rich off of her husband’s vote in the infamous Citizens United decision — which freed corporations to spend billions of dollars to buy U.S. elections. Ginni’s new lobbying firm “offers advice on optimizing political investments for charitable giving in the non-profit world or political causes,” a line of work which has obviously become much more lucrative since Citizens United.

Any one of these instances would be troubling, but the fact that one justice has managed to accrue such a list is deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about what else Thomas might be hiding.

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Judicial Ethics · Justice Clarence Thomas · Rep. Anthony Weiner

Is Weiner Scandal Retaliation From Clarence Thomas?

kstreet6077 Comments

As I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve been following the Rep. Anthony Weiner hoopla since last Friday.

I’ve asked myself the same question, is the Weiner scandal retaliation from the Clarance Thomas issue which Rep. Weiner exposed? 

Just before the faux scandal  about Weiner broke out on May 27th, Weiner had been tweeting  about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ possible  ethics violations on his tax returns.

News One

As Rep. Anthony Weiner’s alleged crotch-shot dominates the news, information on possible motives to deface Weiner’s credibility are surfacing under the radar. And as it appears, Weinergate just might be a smear campaign executed by  conservative activists looking to defend Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

For months, Rep. Weiner has prompted Thomas to disclose the money his wife, Virginia Thomas made working for Liberty Central, a political organization that has openly opposed President Obama’s health care reform agenda. According to Weiner, Mrs. Thomas’ political affiliations put the justice’s impartiality on the bench in question.

Details of Virginia Thomas’ salary and other payments were disclosed Friday night as the press and most Americans prepared for the Memorial Day weekend.

The timing of Thomas’ disclosure quickly became ammunition for Weiner, who made it a point to shed light on the hush-hush disclosure via twitter, hurling numerous tweets at  #ConflictedClarenceThomas.

The tweets read:

“Pretty crazy that the Scout does a pre memorial day Friday dumping of its financial disclosure forms. #ButImOnTheCase”

“#ConflictedClarenceThomas dumps his conflicts forms on Friday before memorial day. #AhFreshAir”

“Spouse of #ConflictedClarenceThomas has every right to work for whomever, but he must recuse himself.”

A day after Weiner waged his assault, political pundit Anthony Breitbart broke a story on his site Big Government of a lewd picture sent to a 21-year-old college co-ed from Weiner’s Twitter account. The picture of an unidentified crotch, was sent to Breitbart from Twitter user @patriotusa76 as a screenshot, which @patriotusa76 said he captured reading Weiner’s feed moments before the tweet was deleted.

Breitbart ran with the photo and the story took off, while  Thomas’ disclosure became an after thought. Weiner defended himself by claiming his Twitter account was hacked, but his claims have yet to be substantiated.

As a result, pundits and conspiracy theorist are probing deep into the coincidence. The liberal website The Daily Kos published a story with evidence they claim proves Weinergate is a conservative-led smear campaign.

UPDATE:

Rep. Weiner’s Wife, Huma Abedin Not Worried About Infidelity

NEW YORK– Huma Abedin, Rep. Anthony Weiner’s wife isn’t worried about infidelity after the news of a lewd picture of his crotch was sent to a 21-year-old college student via Twitter, according to friend a of Abedin. 

“She’s not worried about infidelity,” said her friend. “She’s confident and comfortable in her marriage.”

Abedin, a former deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, married Weiner in July 2010.
More pictures…
 
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Ginni Thomas · GOP Fundraising · GOP Hubris · GOP Malfeasance · GOP Radicalism · Justice Clarence Thomas

Virginia Thomas builds tea party network

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I wonder if the Senate, while going through the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominees, has ever ordered psychological testing for those nominees. 

I know they can’t order the examinations on the nominee’s spouse, but I swear, regarding “Uncle” Clarence and Ginni Thomas, there’s a case to be made for mandatory psych evaluations of SCOTUS nominees…

Politico

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia “Ginni” Thomas has a new job in conservative journalism that keeps her involved with the recent focus of her political activism and business dealings – the tea party movement.

As a part-time special correspondent for the Daily Caller, Thomas plans to tap into the movement, according to emails sent this month to top tea party organizers around the country, to build a list of “leaders from the grassroots in each state … who have their ear to the ground” and are willing to be surveyed weekly by two “prominent pollsters.” The results will be published on the Daily Caller website.

Thomas’s involvement with the tea party and the conservative movement in general has been a continuing source of controversy both for her and her husband.

Ginni Thomas’s 2009 creation of a tea party non-profit group for which she raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in undisclosed contributions, as well as her subsequent creation of a tea party consulting firm last year, has become the basis for allegations by some liberals that her husband’s impartiality has been compromised.

And her attendance at an annual summit of major conservative donors organized by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch – revealed in a recent speech by a federal judge and Thomas family ally – can be expected to draw even more scrutiny.

In remarks prepared for delivery last month to the San Francisco branch of the conservative Federalist Society, Laurence Silberman, a senior judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, blasted critics of the Thomases as “hypocrites” pushing “phony concerns” about judicial ethics, while ignoring real ones and getting their facts wrong.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53059.html#ixzz1JM7R76V6

 

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Ginni Thomas · Justice Clarence Thomas

Criminal Behavior: Throw Clarence Thomas Off the Bench

kstreet6071 Comment

Bill Clinton was impeached—and subsequently disbarred—for defending his false statements about his affair with Monica Lewinsky with an excuse that wasn’t as incredible as the one Thomas is now employing.

The Daily Beast – By Paul Campos

The Supreme Court justice broke the law by not disclosing his wife’s $700K think-tank payday. Paul Campos on Clarence Thomas’ “preposterous” defense and why he likely won’t be punished.

The criminal-law scholar George Fletcher once quipped that the maxim “ignorance of the law is no excuse” is one of the few fundamental principles of law that most people actually know. As harsh as this principle may sometimes be when applied to ordinary citizens, applying it to justices of the Supreme Court seems only reasonable.

Thus it’s difficult to feel sympathy for Clarence Thomas, as he finds himself embroiled in a controversy over his failure to reveal the sources of his wife’s non-investment income (or indeed that she even had any such income). The 1978 Ethics in Government Act requires all federal judges to fill out annual financial-disclosure forms. The relevant question on the disclosure form isn’t complicated: Even if Justice Thomas wasn’t a lawyer, he shouldn’t have needed to hire one to explain to him that the box marked NONE next to the phrase “Spouse’s Non-Investment Income” should only be checked if his spouse had no non-investment income.

In fact Ginni Thomas was paid nearly $700,000 by the Heritage Foundation, a “conservative think tank,” between 2003 and 2007, as well as an undisclosed amount by another lobbying group in 2009. Justice Thomas’ false statements regarding his wife’s income certainly constitute a misdemeanor, and quite probably a felony, under federal law. (They would be felonies if he were prosecuted under 18. U.S.C. 1001, which criminalizes knowingly making false statements of material fact to a federal agency. This is the law Martha Stewart was convicted of breaking by lying to investigators.)

Thomas’ defense is that he didn’t knowingly violate the law, because he “misunderstood” the filing requirements. This is preposterous on its face. Bill Clinton was impeached—and subsequently disbarred—for defending his false statements about his affair with Monica Lewinsky with an excuse that wasn’t as incredible as the one Thomas is now employing.        Continue reading here…

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Justice Clarence Thomas · Megyn Kelly · Rep. Anthony Weiner · Supreme Court Of The United States

Megyn Kelly And Anthony Weiner Engage In Shouting Match Over Clarence Thomas

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What’s the matter with Fox News?

Mediaite

Today Megyn Kelly welcomed Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner back to her show, and fans of their last heated exchange who were hoping for some more fireworks between the two were not at all disappointed. Weiner adamantly believed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from hearing a case on the constitutionality of healthcare reform due to the financial interests of his wife that give off the appearance of bias. When Kelly began to dispute whether that was legally necessary Weiner began to get agitated.

Weiner frequently appears on Fox News and his detractors might claim he just as frequently ends up yelling to make his point or looking frustrated when not given enough time. Here he questions whether Kelly knows the definition of an “interview” while also discussing the differences between facts and opinion and disputing Fox’s “coverage” of any issue. Kelly humorously asks when is it her turn to speak? By the end of the conversation who even knows what issue they are discussing anymore and who cares, because every Kelly/Weiner confrontation is a memorably exciting event. These two need to take their act on the road!

Video…

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Justice Clarence Thomas · Tea Party · Tea Party Agenda · Tea Party Talking Points · Virginia Lamp Thomas

Defiant Clarence Thomas fires back

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Clarence Thomas
Image via Wikipedia

Politico

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – his impartiality under attack from liberals because of his attendance at a meeting of conservative donors sponsored by the Koch brothers and his wife’s tea party activism – struck a defiant tone in a Saturday night speech in Charlottesville, Va., telling a friendly audience that he and his wife “believe in the same things” and “are focused on defending liberty.” 

Delivering the keynote speech at an annual symposium for conservative law students, Thomas spoke in vague, but ominous, terms about the direction of the country and urged his listeners to “redouble your efforts to learn about our country so that you’re in a position to defend it.”

He also lashed out at his critics, without naming them, asserting they “seem bent on undermining” the High Court as an institution. Such criticism, Thomas warned, could erode the ability of American citizens to fend off threats to their way of life.

“You all are going to be, unfortunately, the recipients of the fallout from that – that there’s going to be a day when you need these institutions to be credible and to be fully functioning to protect your liberties,” he said, according to a partial recording of the speech provided to POLITICO by someone who was at the meeting.

“And that’s long after I’m gone, and that could be either a short or a long time, but you’re younger, and it’s still going to be a necessity to protect the liberties that you enjoy now in this country.”

Thomas spoke at the closing banquet for the symposium, which was sponsored by the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. Several hundred law students, professors, Federalist Society staffers and guests were in the audience for his speech, which was closed to the press.

Continue reading here…

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Justice Antonin Scalia · Justice Clarence Thomas · Supreme Court Of The United States

Justice Clarence Thomas’ Silence Unmatched for 40 Years

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I often wonder what this man is hiding?  I was discussing Thomas with a friend yesterday and we both agree that during his confirmation hearing the GOP senators knew he was “guilty as charged” in the Anita Hill brouhaha, yet did everything in their power to destroy her reputation while allowing the character flawed Thomas to pass the confirmation hearing with a 52–48 vote on October 15, 1991.

One of the main senators that stood out in those hearings was Senator Orin Hatch.  His treatment of Ms. Hill was a disgrace.  The entire proceeding was a disgrace.

I truly think Justice Thomas is unqualified to participate as a justice in the highest court in the land.

CBS News

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas celebrated an unusual anniversary today: It’s been five years since he’s asked a question during oral arguments.

Over the years Thomas has read opinions from the bench, but the last time he spoke up spontaneously during an exchange among the justices and lawyers was in February 2006.

His silence during questioning has sparked debate among court watchers over whether a justice should participate in oral arguments.

Some say that the hearings are largely ceremonial, but others see the opportunity to engage in a public dialogue with lawyers on both sides of a case as a crucial tool for justices to try to persuade one another on a matter of law.

While the court does not have official rules mandating the role of each justice during oral arguments, tradition holds that participation is the norm.

“No single justice has gone even one full term without asking a question in the last 40 years,” said Timothy R. Johnson, professor of political science at the University of Minnesota.

Johnson, who has studied the issue for an upcoming book, said that on average Justice Antonin Scalia is the most verbose of the justices, speaking about 27 times per argument session. Compare that to Justice Thomas, who speaks on average almost zero.

Thomas has said that he goes into the oral argument sessions knowing how he will decide, a case so he doesn’t ask questions.

“So why do you beat up on people if you already know … [the outcome of the case]? I don’t know because I don’t beat up on them. I refuse to participate. I don’t like it, so I don’t do it,” he said in 2009, according to The Associated Press.

Although Thomas last spoke in 2006, his 2002 comments during oral arguments on a case about a law banning cross burning are perhaps those most remembered for the stir they created.

He told a government lawyer that he might be “understating the effects of the burning cross,” which stunned those in the audience who were surprised to hear the justice speak up so passionately on the issue.   Continue…

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Justice Antonin Scalia · Justice Clarence Thomas · Justice Sam Alito · Virginia Lamp Thomas

Justice Thomas’s wife now lobbyist

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Here’s another example of the “in your face” violation of ethics that Justices Scalia, Roberts and Thomas frequently toss at their critics.   The SCOTUS does not have oversight on their Justices.  I think it’s about time an oversight committee was formed.

Clearly Supreme Court cases have been influenced by their pandering and consorting with the likes of the Koch brothers and others.  In my opinion this behavior is an outrage.

Now Mrs. Thomas is a part of a lobbying firm to help with “governmental affairs” and get this: political donation strategies.   The Citizens United case entailed the “free speech aspect of “political donations”! 

If no one  about their behavior, then no one is listening.  I recommend reading the entire Politico article.

Politico

She started as a congressional aide in the 1980s, became a midlevel Republican operative, then briefly left politics, reemerging in 2009 as founder of a tea party group before stepping down amid continued questions about whether her actions were appropriate for the spouse of a Supreme Court justice.

Now, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, has recast herself yet again, this time as the head of a firm, Liberty Consulting, which boasts on its website using her “experience and connections” to help clients “with “governmental affairs efforts” and political donation strategies.

Thomas already has met with nearly half of the 99 GOP freshmen in the House and Senate, according to an e-mail she sent last week to congressional chiefs of staff, in which she branded herself “a self-appointed, ambassador to the freshmen class and an ambassador to the tea party movement.”

But her latest career incarnation is sparking controversy again.

Thomas’s role as a de facto tea party lobbyist and — until recently — as head of a tea party group that worked to defeat Democrats last November “show a new level of arrogance of just not caring that the court is being politicized and how that undermines the historic image of the Supreme Court as being above the political fray,” said Arn Pearson, a lawyer for Common Cause, the left-leaning government watchdog group.

More…

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