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  • The journeys Justice Clarence Thomas took with Harlan Crow — that we understand of

    The journeys Justice Clarence Thomas took with Harlan Crow — that we understand of

    • Justice Clarence Thomas has actually taken a number of journeys with GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow over the last few years.

    • Democrats launched brand-new files recently stating Thomas stopped working to divulge 3 extra journeys.

    • Here is a list of the journeys Thomas and Crow have actually taken together — that we understand of.

    Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is as soon as again dealing with restored analysis amidst information about concealed journeys he took with GOP mega-donor Harlan Crow.

    Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee recently launched files revealing Thomas stopped working to divulge 3 journeys he took aboard Crow’s personal jet in 2017, 2019, and 2021. According to Sen. Cock Durbin, the flights were talented to Thomas.

    Thomas likewise just recently modified his 2019 monetary disclosure to consist of 2 trips spent for by Crow, according to ProPublica, that year to Indonesia and the Bohemian Grove, an unique gentleman’s club in Monte Rio, California. ProPublica initially reported on the concealed journeys in 2015.

    The justice has actually protected the missing out on disclosures, stating he was encouraged that revealing hospitality presents from individuals who had no service before the court was unneeded.

    Thomas and Crow have actually been good friends for more than thirty years. Both have stated they do not speak about politics or legal cases together, however legal professionals and legislators have actually revealed principles issues that Crow might have an impact on Thomas, a sitting member of the most effective court in the nation.

    Michael Zona, a representative for Crow, informed BI the billionaire supplied info pertinent to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s demands returning 7 years.

    “Regardless of his severe and ongoing issues about the legality and requirement of the questions, Mr. Crow participated in excellent faith settlements with the Committee from the starting to fix the matter,” the declaration stated. “As a condition of this contract, the Committee accepted end its probe with regard to Mr. Crow.”

    A lawyer for Thomas, Elliot S. Berke, informed Service Expert the holiday info Crow supplied to the Senate Judiciary Committee falls under the “individual hospitality exemption,” which suggests it did not require to be divulged.

    “The Judicial Conference altered this arrangement in 2015, and Justice Thomas has actually totally adhered to the brand-new disclosure requirement,” Berke stated.

    The Supreme Court did not instantly react to an ask for remark from BI.

    Might 2017: Montana journey

    On Might 7, 2017, Thomas took a trip on Crow’s personal jet from St. Louis to Kalispell, Montana, a little mountain town referred to as an entrance to Glacier National forest.

    According to files launched by Senate Democrats recently, the Montana trip is amongst the 3 formerly unidentified journeys that Thomas stopped working to divulge.

    It stays uncertain what Thomas was performing in Montana; BI might not determine any public looks the justice made in the state at that time.

    On Might 9, 2017, Crow’s jet left Montana for Dallas, where the billionaire lives. Beyond the flight on Crow’s jet, it’s uncertain just how much of the journey Crow spent for.

    July 2017: Camp Topridge in upstate New york city

    ProPublica reported in 2015 that Thomas has actually vacationed at Crow’s lakeside resort, Camp Topridge, almost every year for the last twenty years. The remote home lies in the Adirondacks in upstate New york city and is just available by invite from the billionaire himself.

    According to the outlet, Topridge visitors are dealt with to meals prepared by personal chefs, assisted fishing experiences, and personal shows.

    Throughout a July 2017 Topridge journey, Thomas and Crow were signed up with by a variety of business leaders and political activists, consisting of significant Republican donors and executives from Verizon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, ProPublica reported.

    Thomas even appears in a painting hung at the resort, which reveals the Supreme Court justice speaking with conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, according to the outlet.

    Harlan Crow poses for a photograph in a redeveloped office complex

    GOP megadonor Harlan Crow has actually protected his relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas after a series of bombshell ProPublica reports.Chris Goodney/Bloomberg by means of Getty Images

    March 2019: Savannah, Georgia

    Thomas’s fast big salami to his home town of Savannah, Georgia, was the 2nd concealed journey exposed recently. It wasn’t clear what Thomas was performing in Georgia, however he still has member of the family living there, including his mom.

    July 2019: Bali, Indonesia

    Thomas and Crow’s 2019 Bali holiday was the focal point of ProPublica’s initial 2023 report. Although initially reported in 2015, disclosure information about the Indonesia journey were consisted of in just recently modified monetary disclosure kinds and the Judiciary Committee’s report.

    According to ProPublica, Thomas and his partner, Ginni Thomas, invested 9 days vacationing with Crow and others as they tour on a number of islands and hung around on the billionaire’s 162-foot superyacht, the Michaela Rose.

    July 2019: Bohemian Grove, California

    Thomas modified previous filings to consist of a 2019 holiday he took with Crow to Bohemian Grove, an unique, all-male club in Monte Rio, California.

    ProPublica formerly reported on Thomas’ journeys to the gentleman’s retreat. The club’s distinguished alumni consist of United States presidents, military authorities, artists, and leading magnate.

    June 2021: Northern California

    On June 29, 2021, Thomas took a trip from Washington, DC, to San Jose, California, aboard Crow’s jet, The Washington Post reported. He went back to DC the exact same day. The factor for the journey stays unidentified.

    Supreme Court Justice Clarence ThomasSupreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

    Getty Images

    July 2022: Camp Topridge (once again)

    On July 7, 2022, Thomas once again boarded Crow’s aircraft to take a trip to Camp Topridge — perhaps for his yearly summer season holiday at his billionaire friend’s hideaway, ProPublica reported in 2015.

    Other believed journeys

    ProPublica stated Thomas travelled through New Zealand aboard Crow’s superyacht approximately a years back. The outlet reported that the Supreme Court Justice likewise boarded the Michaela Rose for a river cruise around Savannah, Georgia. An image of Thomas wearing an embroidered t-shirt referencing a 2007 journey through the Greek Islands recommends the justice might have likewise vacationed in the Mediterranean.

    Thomas has actually likewise made regular usage of Crow’s personal jet for fast outing and service travel, according to media reports.

    Check out the initial short article on Service Expert

  • Clarence Thomas belatedly divulges extravagant travel costs spent for by Harlan Crow

    Clarence Thomas belatedly divulges extravagant travel costs spent for by Harlan Crow

    Justice Clarence Thomas belatedly acknowledged that Republican politician billionaire Harlan Crow spent for Thomas’ lodgings throughout journeys in 2019 to Bali and Sonoma County — a disclosure that comes in the middle of unmatched examination of the Supreme Court and the rich benefactors near to the justices.

    The recommendation of Crow’s largesse was consisted of in a yearly monetary disclosure report submitted by Thomas and revealed on Friday. Financial reports for 8 of the 9 justices were likewise launched Friday. Justice Samuel Alito got a 90-day extension to submit his report, as he did in 2015.

    3 justices reported getting six-figure quantities in 2015 from book offers or royalties. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stated Beyonce offered her 4 show tickets worth about $3,700.

    According to Thomas’ newly-released report, Crow and his better half supplied food and one day of hotel accommodations throughout Thomas’ journey to Indonesia in July 2019, and Crow likewise chose up the tab for a four-day stay by the justice a couple of days later on at a personal club in Monte Rio, California, which is home to the Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat.

    Thomas has actually dealt with criticism for accepting extravagant journeys from Crow, a Texas realty magnate and Republican megadonor, without revealing them. Thomas has actually called Crow a close and long time individual buddy.

    Thomas’ brand-new filing discussed that he “looked for and got assistance from his accounting professional and principles counsel” as part of a “evaluation of previous filings that started in 2015.” The presents from the Crows were “accidentally left out at the time of filing,” Thomas stated on the brand-new type, which mainly covers the 2023 fiscal year.

    Thomas’ 2019 journey to Indonesia with the Crows — a few of it invested aboard a personal luxury yacht — was initially reported in 2015 by ProPublica, which noted it was not consisted of on the justice’s disclosure type for that year.

    Thomas later on stated he’d been encouraged by principles authorities that “individual hospitality” from buddies did not require to be reported. Nevertheless, the brand-new filing seems a concession that whatever uncertainty might have existed around travel on personal jets or luxury yachts, presents of remain at hotels or clubs owned by 3rd parties have actually long been needed to be revealed.

    For the previous 2 years, the court’s principles practices have actually been the topic of extreme attention and criticism, as reporters, court-reform supporters and legal principles specialists have actually progressively questioned the monetary and individual ties of the justices, in addition to the political, service and individual activities of a few of the justices’ partners. Senate Democrats have actually subjected the high court to withering criticism, with lots of recommending that principles lapses reveal the Republican-appointed justices to be under the sway of conservative activists.

    In the middle of the firestorm, the Supreme Court took the unmatched action last November of embracing an official principles code, although it does not have an enforcement system and in some aspects is weaker than vaguer ethics concepts backed earlier by the justices.

    Alito, like Thomas, has actually dealt with specific examination. He flew on a personal jet and vacationed in Alaska with a hedge fund billionaire with interests before the court, ProPublica reported, and 2 questionable flag screens connected with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol flew at his homes, the New york city Times reported. A representative for the Administrative Workplace of U.S. Courts, which processes the monetary disclosure kinds, verified that Alito had actually gotten an extension to submit his report however did not offer a reasoning for the hold-up.

    Numerous justices reported capitalizing book offers in 2015. Jackson reported almost $900,000 in a book advance, paid through a restricted liability business. Justice Brett Kavanaugh made $340,000 in book royalties in 2023, and Justice Neil Gorsuch reported $250,000 in royalty earnings, according to the filings. Justice Sonia Sotomayor saw about $87,000 in book royalties and was paid about $1,900 for her voice efficiency in the PBS Children animated program Alma’s Method.

    In addition to getting the 4 tickets from artist Beyonce Knowles-Carter, Jackson likewise got art work for her chambers valued, in overall, at $12,500.

    Thomas reported his better half, Ginni Thomas, once again got a concealed income and gain from Liberty Consulting, a consulting company she developed in connection with work she provided for different conservative companies. Public authorities are not needed to reveal their partners’ incomes, however Thomas’ type put the worth of his better half’s service at in between about $15,000 and $50,000.

    The Thomases likewise got 2 picture albums valued at $2,000 from Terrence and Barbara Giroux. Terrence Giroux seems the previous executive director of the Horatio Alger Association, a not-for-profit whose board of directors counts Thomas as an honorary member, according to Thomas’ filing.

    Chief Justice John Roberts reported some rental earnings from a home in Maine and share of a home in Ireland. Furthermore, his better half Jane Sullivan Roberts got a base pay and “commission” from the lawyer search company for which she works. After POLITICO and other outlets reported on Jane Sullivan Roberts’ work, the chief justice started reporting in his disclosures that a few of her earnings originates from commissions.

  • Thomas says critics are pushing ‘nastiness’ and calls Washington a ‘hideous place’

    Thomas says critics are pushing ‘nastiness’ and calls Washington a ‘hideous place’

    FAIRHOPE, Alabama — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told attendees at a judicial conference Friday that he and his wife have faced “nastiness” and “lies” over the last several years and decried Washington, D.C., as a “hideous place.”

    Thomas spoke at a conference attended by judges, attorneys and other court personnel in the 11th Circuit Judicial Conference, which hears federal cases from Alabama, Florida and Georgia. He made the comments pushing back on his critics in response to a question about working in a world that seems meanspirited.

    “I think there’s challenges to that. We’re in a world and we — certainly my wife and I the last two or three years it’s been — just the nastiness and the lies, it’s just incredible,” Thomas said.

    “But you have some choices. You don’t get to prevent people from doing horrible things or saying horrible things. But one you have to understand and accept the fact that they can’t change you unless you permit that,” Thomas said.

    Thomas has faced criticisms that he accepted luxury trips from a GOP donor without reporting them. Thomas last year maintained that he didn’t have to report the trips paid for by one of “our dearest friends.” His wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas has faced criticism for using her Facebook page to amplify unsubstantiated claims of corruption by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

    He did not discuss the content of the criticisms directly, but said that “reckless” people in Washington will “bomb your reputation.”

    “They don’t bomb you necessarily, but they bomb your reputation or your good name or your honor. And that’s not a crime. But they can do as much harm that way,” Thomas said.

    During the appearance, Thomas was asked questions by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, one of Thomas’ former law clerks who was later appointed to the federal bench. During his hour-long appearance, the longest-serving justice on the court discussed a wide range of topics including the lessons of his grandfather, his friendship with former colleagues and his belief that court writings and discussions should be more accessible for “regular people.”

    Thomas, who spent most of his working life in Washington, D.C., also discussed his dislike of it.

    “I think what you are going to find and especially in Washington, people pride themselves on being awful. It is a hideous place as far as I’m concerned,” Thomas said. Thomas said that it is one of the reasons he and his wife “like RVing.”

    “You get to be around regular people who don’t pride themselves in doing harmful things, merely because they have the capacity to do it or because they disagree,” Thomas said.

    A recreational vehicle used by Thomas also became a source of controversy. Senate Democrats in October issued a report saying that most of the $267,000 loan obtained by Thomas to buy a high-end motorcoach appears to have been forgiven.

    Thomas did not discuss the court’s high-profile caseload.

    The justice said he believed it is important to use language in court rulings so that the law is accessible to the average person.

    “The regular people I think are being disenfranchised sometimes by the way that we talk about cases,” Thomas said.

    Thomas wasn’t the only justice making a speaking appearance Friday.

    Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Friday that U.S. history shows court decisions unpopular in their time later can become part of the “fabric of American constitutional law.”

    Kavanaugh spoke Friday at a conference attended by judges, attorneys and other court personnel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi and is one of the most conservative circuits.

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  • The next Clarence Thomas? Abortion pill case spotlights rightwing judge and his wife’s shadowy connections

    The next Clarence Thomas? Abortion pill case spotlights rightwing judge and his wife’s shadowy connections

    When the former president Donald Trump appointed the Texas attorney James Ho to the fifth circuit court of appeals in 2017, lawyers at the prominent law firm Gibson Dunn – where Ho worked before his appointment – had a problem: how to replace the politically connected Ho. Turns out, they didn’t even need to change the home address for his replacement. Ho’s wife, Allyson, moved into her husband’s position and his old office.

    Meet the Hos.

    Related: What is the abortion case in front of the US supreme court right now?

    Few people outside of legal circles have heard of the Hos, yet the couple is tied to the case before the US supreme court that will determine women’s access to mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortions. The court hears arguments in the case on Tuesday.

    Ho served on the three-judge panel last summer that ruled to restrict access to mifepristone. The legal group behind the mifepristone case, Alliance Defending Freedom, made at least six payments from 2018 through 2022 to his wife, Allyson, a powerhouse federal appellate lawyer who has argued in front of the supreme court and has deep connections to the conservative legal movement that has led the attack on the right to abortion in the US.

    The payments don’t violate the court’s code of conduct, according to Stephen Gillers, a New York University emeritus professor of law and author of Regulation of Lawyers: Problems of Law and Ethics. But some court watchers argue that Ho’s failure to recuse himself from the case illustrates why public trust in the judiciary is eroding. One recent survey found that 63% of judges noted a dip in the public’s positive perception of them.

    “When Americans see a case like this – so clearly concocted and motivated by special interests, and with evident connections between those interests and the judges on the case, it does tremendous damage to the reputation of the courts, and to the public trust in their ability to give all litigants an even shake,” said Alex Aronson, the executive director of the nonpartisan group Court Accountability and a former chief counsel to the Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

    In an email to the Guardian, James Ho wrote that he “consulted our court’s ethics advisor prior to sitting in that case, and was advised that there was no basis for recusal. In any event, my wife’s practice is to donate honoraria to charity.”

    The Hos are just one of the increasing number of power couples in the conservative movement in which the wife of a prominent official works in the background, laying the groundwork for Republican policies that their spouses will rule upon or legislate. In the mifepristone case, the wife of the Missouri senator Josh Hawley, Erin, is the attorney of record for Alliance Defending Freedom and argued the case before Ho. The supreme court justice Clarence Thomas rankled the legal world when he refused to recuse himself from a case involving questions about the January 6 insurrection and the “Stop The Steal” campaign to which his wife, Ginni Thomas, was closely tied.

    For Aronson, these are examples of “serious concerns about what is becoming an apparent pattern of coordinated activity by some of these couples in this extremist movement, including the Thomases, Hawleys and Hos”.

    Ho’s rulings have included zealous language, referencing what he called in one decision “the moral tragedy of abortion”. He has suggested that protection orders in domestic violence cases “are too often misused as a tactical device in divorce proceedings – and issued without any actual threat of danger”. Orin Kerr, a University of California, Berkeley, law professor, tweeted that one of Ho’s opinions “reads like a politician’s op-ed, not a legal opinion; judges should stick to law”.

    Related: What Alabama’s IVF ruling reveals about the ascendant Christian nationalist movement

    In the mifepristone case, in which Ho supported rolling back decisions made by the Food and Drug Administration to loosen restrictions on the drug, he wrote: “Unborn babies are a source of profound joy for those who view them. Expectant parents eagerly share ultrasound photos with loved ones. Friends and family cheer at the sight of an unborn child. Doctors delight in working with their unborn patients – and experience an aesthetic injury when they are aborted.”

    He has chafed legal traditionalists from the moment of his swearing-in, when he opted for the ceremony to be held in the private library of Harlan Crow – the conservative mega-donor who, ProPublica revealed, has lavished Clarence Thomas with trips on his yacht and paid the $6,000-per-month private school tuition for the justice’s great-nephew. Ho worked as a clerk for Thomas in 2005.

    Ho vowed to boycott hiring Yale Law School graduates as clerks after students interrupted conservative speakers on campus, noting “cancellations and disruptions seem to occur with special frequency” at the Ivy League school.

    His caustic writings have drawn the spotlight while his wife, Allyson, has been working more inconspicuously, helping lay the legal foundation for conservative policies in her own work.

    She appears frequently as a speaker for the Federalist Society, the group that has led the conservative effort to reshape the judiciary. She has also worked pro bono for the Christian right organization First Liberty Institute, a group that describes its mission “to defend and restore religious liberty in our schools, for our churches and houses of worship, inside the military, and throughout the public arena”.

    It’s unclear what Alliance Defending Freedom paid Allyson Ho to do, yet ending abortion is central among the organization’s goals. The group helped write the Mississippi law that led to the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade and ended the 50-year-old constitutional right to an abortion.

    Her husband’s financial disclosures list descriptions of “Academy” or “Freedom Summit”, next to some of the payments. The ADF hosts various legal trainings as part of its ADF Legal Academy that “seamlessly combines outstanding legal training with an unwavering commitment to Christian principles” and a Young Lawyers Academy.

    The Alliance Defending Freedom did not respond to the Guardian’s queries and a request to speak with Allyson Ho sent to Gibson Dunn has not been answered.

    The Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Republicans, appointed Allyson to the state’s committee responsible for recommending and vetting its recommendations to fill judicial vacancies. Neither Cruz nor Cornyn’s offices responded to the Guardian’s request for the names or dates of service for the judicial vetting committee nor did they respond to questions about what role, if any, Allyson had in her husband’s nomination to the bench.

    Related: ‘They hate God’: US anti-abortion activists aim to fight back on 51st Roe anniversary

    In 2023, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, hired Allyson and Gibson Dunn, at a rate of $1,313 per hour – with a $7m cap – to represent the state in a decade-long legal battle in which a federal judge determined Texas had failed to protect foster children. The state had previously been represented by attorneys on its own payroll. The move to hire Allyson and her firm signaled that Texas could be looking to fight back against court orders mandating Texas comply with federal monitors appointed to ensure the safety of vulnerable children in its care by appealing district court rulings to the fifth circuit court of appeals – the court on which James Ho serves.

    The mifepristone case might just be the beginning of the Hos’ influence, Gillers, the NYU professor, said.

    “If Trump wins the election, you’ll see Ho on the short list of nominees to the supreme court,” he said. “He is obviously behaving in a way that makes him a very prominent candidate in a Republican administration.”

    That appointment could once again leave an empty office – one that some might want Allyson to fill.



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