That Thomas guy

[hodad]

Just one trip he was given was vaued a a half million dollars. It’s good to be a corrupt Supreme Court justice,yes?

Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From Major GOP Donor

 

[crazydoc]

“I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” Thomas said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.”

Clarence, Ginny and I have summer vacation plans in an RV down at the local Walmart parking lot. There should be lots of other good ol' boys there we can hang with, assuming mixed race marriage is acceptable here in rural CA. (If not, we can invite Anita Hill to join us.)

If we're lucky there will be a petition we can sign recalling Gavin Newsom, and we'll be working on a draft of "Ethics Guidelines for Supreme Court Justices" - starting with a blank page of course.

 

[FarisElek]

That 'RV parks and Walmart' line is some of the most pandering bullshit I've ever heard in my entire life. Incredible.

 

[JohnRoberts]

It's getting so we can see the strings that the puppet masters are using to steer the public discourse.

Don't investigate that, here's a new bright shiny object....

JR

 

[crazydoc]

It doesn't matter which side - almost every time you put the shovel in, you dig up another pile of shit.

 

[hodad]

It's getting so we can see the strings that the puppet masters are using to steer

the Judiciary.

Interestingly, Thomas declared these trips until the LA Times reported on it (in 2004, maybe?) That's when he stopped.

 

[pucho812]

It's getting so we can see the strings that the puppet masters are using to steer the public discourse.

Don't investigate that, here's a new bright shiny object....

JR

Reminds me of the saying
When something is wrong in the circus they send out the clowns to distract the audience.
Seems to happen a lot these days

 

[hodad]

they send out the clowns

Yeah, I guess it is fair to say that Clarence Thomas is a clown.

 

[pucho812]

Yeah, I guess it is fair to say that Clarence Thomas is a clown.

So is the guy currently elected president.

 

[hodad]

So is the guy currently elected president.

I don't know--seems like the last president is the one who always wore clown makeup to the office.

 

[pucho812]

I don't know--seems like the last president is the one who always wore clown makeup to the office.

Maybe? But when my gas was 2 something with the last guy and 5 bucks with the current guy, I’ll take the last guy any day of the week

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yeah, I guess it is fair to say that Clarence Thomas is a clown.

Perhaps inside your echo chamber...
===
The response from Justice Thomas was in yesterdays WSJ. Apparently the shared family vacations were being done for some 20+ years. He was operating under guidance he received from associates and other justices, that these personal trips did not need to be reported as gifts.

"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 a statement released by the Supreme Court's press office.

The gifts coming from a very rich GOP donor and the behavior of Ginni Thomas a conservative activist, has inflamed the democrats. This may be a strategy to reduce his influence in possible future political cases before the court.

The code of judicial ethics that applies to all federal judges has rules that require reporting of all gifts and travel paid for by others, but until last month, those rules had an exception for private travel and hospitality paid for by a personal friend who had no cases currently pending before the court. That appears to be the provision that Thomas believes has allowed him to avoid disclosure of his privately financed travel.

In March the Judicial Conference of the United States changed those rules to clarify that judges may not escape reporting travel that is paid for by someone else, and that even personal hospitality at a private estate must be reported if the property is not owned personally by the friend extending the hospitality.

The constitution protects against ex post facto prosecutions. He is expected to respect the recent rules change.

JR

PS: Perhaps more newsworthy the recent election of a liberal state supreme court jurist in Wisconsin has shifted the majority there liberal for the first time in 15 years, this could impact that swing state.

 

[Recording Engineer]

He was operating under guidance he received from associates and other justices, that these personal trips did not need to be reported as gifts.

Or so he says. Who can confirm this?

He is expected to respect the recent rules change.

Here-in lies the problem… Either he needed to or he didn’t need to. With new rule-changes, he does or doesn’t.

How is anyone to know anything? What’s the point of oversight if the rules are not easily known to everyone? Maybe they are and I’m ignorant of it all? Wouldn’t be the first-time!

The gifts coming from a very rich GOP donor and the behavior of Ginni Thomas a conservative activist, has inflamed the democrats. This may be a strategy to reduce his influence in possible future political cases before the court.

Perhaps. However, there should be absolutely no reason why anyone shouldn’t be able to say that for sure or not. Instead, here we are speculating things. This is stupid.

 

[JohnRoberts]

This is stupid.

yes

JR

 

[Matador]

PS: Perhaps more newsworthy the recent election of a liberal state supreme court jurist in Wisconsin has shifted the majority there liberal for the first time in 15 years, this could impact that swing state.

Agreed! It will be nice to see the extreme GOP partisan gerrymander unwound in Wisconsin in time for 2024.

 

[hodad]

Apparently the shared family vacations were being done for some 20+ years.

Yes. And as I noted, he actually reported them until the LA Times did a story about this cozy little relationship. Then, for some reason, he stopped.

Fancy that.

Also, if you read Thomas's rebuttal, you may have noticed that he didn't specify who exactly advised him on this. Was it the Supreme Court's janitor, or a law clerk eager to kiss Thomas's generous behind? The guy who reshelves the law books when the justices are done with them? Who knows?

And if you're concerned that all we're doing here is speculating, maybe you should direct your ire toward Thomas and his extreme obfuscation when it comes to this situation and his numerous other ethical "challenges."

 

[JohnRoberts]

In my judgement this is just a distraction to obfuscate more serious matters.

JR

 

[Recording Engineer]

In my judgement this is just a distraction to obfuscate more serious matters.

JR

But again, that’s biggest problem. It is or it isn’t just a distraction. Personal judgement absolutely should NOT have anything to do with it here. Unfortunately, neither side are talking about that to actually fix the problem… As usual.

 

[hodad]

In my judgement this is just a distraction to obfuscate more serious matters.

Isn't the ethical integrity of the highest court in the land a serious matter? This isn't the first time Thomas's dealings have been under the microscope, and Thomas is not the first Justice whose questionable choices have merited such scrutiny. The largess flowing to Thomas from people seeking to influence the court is indeed of serious concern, as is the rather unusual access to the court that has at times been granted to certain conservative influence groups. All of this is extremely problematic, as is the grooming of ultra-conservative judges by the Federalist Society and its allies. If a small group of extremely wealthy individuals are exerting undue influence on one of the 3 branches of the federal govt.--and in particular the one where we the people can't vote the bums out--then I'd say it's a rather serious matter indeed.

 

[pucho812]

Isn't the ethical integrity of the highest court in the land a serious matter?

it is. But you don’t seem so concerned with left leaning judges.