 | What's going on with the Supreme Court? |
There’s been so much news about the Supreme Court’s corruption lately, it’s been hard to keep up.
Just this week, it was revealed that Justice Samuel Alito went on an undisclosed fishing trip to Alaska paid for by billionaire, GOP megadonor Paul Singer — whose hedge fund then argued 10 cases in front of the Supreme Court, winning at least $2.4 billion in the process.
SCOTUS is in a legitimacy crisis.
As the Court’s term for the year draws to a close — and they soon issue pivotal decisions on affirmative action, gerrymandering, and student debt forgiveness — we wanted to take a minute to break down what we know:
Justice Clarence Thomas has received luxury gifts nearly every year for decades without reporting them in financial disclosures.1 These gifts, paid for by billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow, include private jet trips around the world, vacations on Crow’s private superyacht, and at least two years of private school tuition for Justice Thomas’ grandnephew.2 Crow also purchased the home of Justice Thomas’ mother. He allowed her to live there rent free, and has spent thousands of dollars on renovations to her home.
Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo made secret payments to Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas — wife of Justice Thomas — totalling over $80,000 from 2011 to 2012, specifically directing that her name be left off billing paperwork.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sold property in Colorado to the CEO of Greenberg Traurig, one of the country’s biggest law firms.3 Justice Gorsuch disclosed income from the purchase, but declined to identify that the CEO of Greenberg Traurig was the purchaser, leaving the box blank on the disclosure form. Since 2017, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before the Supreme Court.
Jane Roberts — wife of Chief Justice John Roberts — solicited $10.3 million in commissions as a legal recruiter in the 8 years after her husband’s Court appointment.4 The fees were paid to Roberts by corporations and law firms, at least one of which argued a case before the Supreme Court.
And when asked to participate in a congressional inquiry into these potentially illegal ethical violations, Chief Justice Roberts and the Court refused to comply.
A court that rejects accountability for itself erodes its own ability to hold others accountable.
Alexandria called for the impeachment of Clarence Thomas for the most egregious of these violations — and she wants Justices to be held to the same ethical standards of other elected officials to stop this corruption in the future.
We will keep you posted as more on the Supreme Court develops.
In solidarity,
Team AOC
1 - ProPublica: Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire
2 - ProPublica: Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.
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