Should Clarence Thomas resign?

[easyrider16]

It would not surprise me for well-connected lawyers to have some insight into what's going on at SCOTUS. The bar is a small world, and judges talk, clerks talk, staffers talk. But it's also not uncommon to hear a lawyer claim he knows something about what's going on with the judges, especially when he's talking to a client, when in reality he's just speculating. I would rate this story as not very compelling unless there is some evidence that a particular judge or individual communicated directly with Eastman.

[XtremeJibber2001]

It would not surprise me for well-connected lawyers to have some insight into what's going on at SCOTUS. The bar is a small world, and judges talk, clerks talk, staffers talk. But it's also not uncommon to hear a lawyer claim he knows something about what's going on with the judges, especially when he's talking to a client, when in reality he's just speculating. I would rate this story as not very compelling unless there is some evidence that a particular judge or individual communicated directly with Eastman.

I guess we'll find out if/how Ginni was involved ...

Jan. 6 panel to seek testimony from Ginni Thomas
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/16/ginni- ... an-6-panel

[easyrider16]

Well those are some interesting facts. I had forgotten that Eastman and Thomas exchanged email. Very possible she's the source of Eastman's knowledge. But, there's nothing illegal about the judge talking to his wife, or his wife telling Eastman. Not a good look for Judge Thomas though ( not that he seems to care).

[XtremeJibber2001]

Well those are some interesting facts. I had forgotten that Eastman and Thomas exchanged email. Very possible she's the source of Eastman's knowledge. But, there's nothing illegal about the judge talking to his wife, or his wife telling Eastman. Not a good look for Judge Thomas though ( not that he seems to care).

Ginni could also be the source of the Roe leak.

[easyrider16]

Could be, but pretty sure that's not illegal, either. Though again, a bad look for Judge Thomas. I also think people are making way too much of it. SCOTUS opinions are eventually published for all to see. While I don't think it's appropriate to publish drafts of impending decisions, I'm not sure there's much harm in the disclosure of a draft of a document that would eventually become public. It seems more like an embarassment than any sort of security or policy issue.

[Fancypants]

It would not surprise me for well-connected lawyers to have some insight into what's going on at SCOTUS. The bar is a small world, and judges talk, clerks talk, staffers talk. But it's also not uncommon to hear a lawyer claim he knows something about what's going on with the judges, especially when he's talking to a client, when in reality he's just speculating. I would rate this story as not very compelling unless there is some evidence that a particular judge or individual communicated directly with Eastman.

I guess we'll find out if/how Ginni was involved ...

Jan. 6 panel to seek testimony from Ginni Thomas
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/16/ginni- ... an-6-panel

There you go again with the conspiracy theories.....Jan 6th is only a narrative.....

[easyrider16]

Right, all the video was faked, just like they faked the moon landing.

[asher2789]

If the shoe were on the other foot and the spouse of Elena Kagan (if she had one) were involved in trying to plan a coup? Republicans would be losing their mind right now.

if the shoe was on the other foot there would be public hangings. the far right and the so called "moderates" who tolerate them are bloodthirsty.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Clarence Thomas Sold House To GOP Donor Harlan Crow, Report Says
https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherineh ... 70b24d1338

In 2014, real estate developer Crow bought a single-story home and two vacant lots in Savannah, Georgia, from an entity registered to Thomas, Thomas’ mother and the family of Thomas’ late brother, according to public records obtained by ProPublica.

The $133,363 transaction marks the first known instance of payments between Crow and Thomas, a week after ProPublica first reported the Supreme Court Justice had traveled on Crow’s yacht and jet without disclosing it.

Thomas reportedly never disclosed his sale of the Savannah properties, which some experts described to ProPublica as a possible violation of a federal law that requires justices to disclose most real estate sales over $1,000.

The disclosure form Thomas filed for that year had a space to report the identity of any buyers in private transactions, but that space is left blank.

Thomas’ mother continued to live in the house under Crow’s ownership, and the property underwent major renovations after the sale, including the addition of a carport and roof repairs, ProPublica reported.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.
https://www.propublica.org/article/clar ... ion-scotus

In 2008, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decided to send his teenage grandnephew to Hidden Lake Academy, a private boarding school in the foothills of northern Georgia. The boy, Mark Martin, was far from home. For the previous decade, he had lived with the justice and his wife in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Thomas had taken legal custody of Martin when he was 6 years old and had recently told an interviewer he was “raising him as a son.”

Tuition at the boarding school ran more than $6,000 a month. But Thomas did not cover the bill. A bank statement for the school from July 2009, buried in unrelated court filings, shows the source of Martin’s tuition payment for that month: the company of billionaire real estate magnate Harlan Crow.

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The payments extended beyond that month, according to Christopher Grimwood, a former administrator at the school. Crow paid Martin’s tuition the entire time he was a student there, which was about a year, Grimwood told ProPublica.

“Harlan picked up the tab,” said Grimwood, who got to know Crow and the Thomases and had access to school financial information through his work as an administrator.

[easyrider16]

I think it very strange that a Supreme Court justice has a billionaire sugar daddy that keeps paying his bills and taking him on lavish vacations. At a minimum, it's a bad look. I have yet to see any evidence of how this relationship actually affected Thomas' work on the bench, but I think we'd be incredibly naive to think his billionaire buddy hasn't gotten some benefit, even if it's just information.

[deadheadskier]

How is he not being investigated for tax fraud?

Weisselberg just got out of prison for tax fraud and part of the fraud was he accepted tuition gifts for family members and a rent free apartment that was unreported.

How is that any different than Crow paying the private school tuition of Thomas's adopted child or allowing Thomas's mother to live in a home Crow owned rent free?

[easyrider16]

I believe gifts are taxable to the giver, not the receiver. So Thomas wouldn't owe any taxes for receiving these lavish gifts, but his billionaire benefactor might.

[deadheadskier]

I believe gifts are taxable to the giver, not the receiver. So Thomas wouldn't owe any taxes for receiving these lavish gifts, but his billionaire benefactor might.

There is a gift threshold where excess annual amounts are taxed as income. Maybe these amounts fell below those thresholds, but it's total BS what transpired is allowed to happen.

Roberts needs to implement policies immediately to prevent such occurrences in the future to protect the integrity of the Supreme Court. It's a joke currently and Thomas is a big reason why.

[easyrider16]

What it seems to keep coming down to for me is that Thomas doesn't seem to have violated any rule or law, but some of the things he is doing, i.e. receiving such lavish gifts, probably should be against the law. Aren't there laws for other public officials receiving gifts?

Of course the people in Congress are far too consumed with right vs left culture wars to do something productive about this, so I'm sure nothing will come of it.