Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire

[essentialsaltes]

oops, scooped again
GOP donor paid private school tuition for Justice Thomas’s grandnephew, report says​

The same Texas billionaire who treated Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to lavish vacations paid private boarding school tuition for Thomas’s grandnephew, a boy the justice has said he raised as a son, according to a new report that said Thomas did not disclose the payments.

ProPublica reported that Harlan Crow, a prominent Republican donor, paid tuition at Hidden Lake Academy, a boarding school in Georgia, as well as at Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia, for Mark Martin. Thomas had legal custody of the boy.

The publication cited a bank statement that showed Crow paid $6,200 in monthly tuition at Hidden Lake Academy in July 2009.

 

[Say it aint so]

And somewhere sits Chief Justice John Roberts still baffled why public opinion of the court is so low.

 

[rambot]

oops, scooped again​

GOP donor paid private school tuition for Justice Thomas’s grandnephew, report says​

The same Texas billionaire who treated Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to lavish vacations paid private boarding school tuition for Thomas’s grandnephew, a boy the justice has said he raised as a son, according to a new report that said Thomas did not disclose the payments.

ProPublica reported that Harlan Crow, a prominent Republican donor, paid tuition at Hidden Lake Academy, a boarding school in Georgia, as well as at Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia, for Mark Martin. Thomas had legal custody of the boy.

The publication cited a bank statement that showed Crow paid $6,200 in monthly tuition at Hidden Lake Academy in July 2009.

Poor Clarence just simply could NEVER make enough cash to send their child to that school.

 

[SummerMadness]

Clarence Thomas is such a disgrace. Over and over he commits these acts of corruption.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

Clarence Thomas is such a disgrace. Over and over he commits these acts of corruption.

@SummerMadness you've been away for a bit. Glad to see you back! Hope things have been well for you!

 

[Brihaha]

Clarence Thomas is such a disgrace. Over and over he commits these acts of corruption.

I believe it is related to the fact Mr Thomas wasn't punished for harassing Ms Hill but rather rewarded with a seat on the most powerful court in our nation. And if Dr Phil has taught us anything at all about ourselves it's that you never reward bad behavior. It only serves to reinforce the bad behavior!

 

[essentialsaltes]

Clarence Thomas Reversed Position After Gifts And Family Payments

The Supreme Court justice switched sides on a landmark legal doctrine, satisfying his benefactors’ conservative advocacy machine.

www.levernews.com

 

[essentialsaltes]

Meanwhile...

A group of women who went to high school with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wanted to send her bagels and lox from Russ & Daughters, the legendary deli on the Lower East Side. But they scrapped the plan after Kagan expressed concerns about the court’s ethics rules for reporting gifts

 

[rambot]

I know there are plenty of legislative examples of this. I'd love to see them

But how can this not be suspect to a rational person?

 

[DaisyDay]

I know there are plenty of legislative examples of this. I'd love to see them

But how can this not be suspect to a rational person?

For some reason, the image doesn't show.

 

[Larniavc]

For some reason, the image doesn't show.
View attachment 331117

Who knew being bought so many things over so long by a billionaire could be so rewarding?

 

[rambot]

For some reason, the image doesn't show.
View attachment 331117

Thank you. That's weird. It showed up in the editing box; I assumed you'd see it then.

 

[DaisyDay]

Thank you. That's weird. It showed up in the editing box; I assumed you'd see it then.

Yeah, I could see it perfectly well in the "quote" as well, until I looked at the "Preview". I don't know what the problem is.

 

[DaisyDay]

It's expensive to attend the Thomas' Christmas Parties, apparently.

Lawyers with supreme court business paid Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo

Payments to Rajan Vasisht, an aide from 2019-21, underscore ties between the justice and lawyers who argue cases in front of him

www.theguardian.com

Several lawyers who have had business before the supreme court, including one who successfully argued to end race-conscious admissions at universities, paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions. The payments appear to have been made in connection to Thomas’s 2019 Christmas party.

Vasisht’s Venmo account – which was public prior to requesting comment for this article and is no longer – show that he received seven payments in November and December 2019 from lawyers who previously served as Thomas legal clerks. The amount of the payments is not disclosed, but the purpose of each payment is listed as either “Christmas party”, “Thomas Christmas Party”, “CT Christmas Party” or “CT Xmas party”, in an apparent reference to the justice’s initials.

However, it remains unclear what the funds were for.​

I don't know what this is about, but it needs to be explained.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

It's expensive to attend the Thomas' Christmas Parties, apparently.

Lawyers with supreme court business paid Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo

Payments to Rajan Vasisht, an aide from 2019-21, underscore ties between the justice and lawyers who argue cases in front of him

www.theguardian.com

Several lawyers who have had business before the supreme court, including one who successfully argued to end race-conscious admissions at universities, paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions. The payments appear to have been made in connection to Thomas’s 2019 Christmas party.​

​

Vasisht’s Venmo account – which was public prior to requesting comment for this article and is no longer – show that he received seven payments in November and December 2019 from lawyers who previously served as Thomas legal clerks. The amount of the payments is not disclosed, but the purpose of each payment is listed as either “Christmas party”, “Thomas Christmas Party”, “CT Christmas Party” or “CT Xmas party”, in an apparent reference to the justice’s initials.​

​

However, it remains unclear what the funds were for.​

I don't know what this is about, but it needs to be explained.

"Venmo: America's #1 digital payment processor for pot dealers, prostitutes, and Clarence Thomas schmoozing events"

Do you think they'll adopt that as their official slogan? It has a certain ring to it...

 

[ThatRobGuy]

For some reason, the image doesn't show.
View attachment 331117

While I definitely think he's accepting some unethical handouts and not reporting them.

I would be curious as to the source of what they're saying in this image.

I definitely think he's a multi-millionaire, but I'm unable to find anything that's to the tune of a number that high.

The estimates I'm reading seem to be quite a bit lower than that

Clarence Thomas Net Worth 2024: US Supreme Court Justice

Justice Clarence Thomas Net Worth is $24 Million Dollars. Clarence Thomas is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

caknowledge.com

...and it looks like a fair amount of his assets are the 6 rental properties that he owns that were purchased years ago that have appreciated in value, and a good chunk of his income comes from those properties being rented out.

According to the same site, Ketanji Brown Jackson has a similar net worth and portfolio (including several rental homes and investments)

Ketanji Brown Jackson Net Worth 2024: Salary House Cars US Supreme Court

Ketanji Brown Jackson Net Worth is $23 Million USD. Ketanji Jackson will soon be nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden.

caknowledge.com

She'd been a US district court judge for 12 years (a job with a similar salary to Thomas's) prior to SCOTUS, and then worked on a lower court for 5 years prior to that... and before that a law clerk.

I guess one could ask the same questions about her current net worth. given the majority of her career has been in the public judicial sector.


I bring that up simply to suggest that while it may be applicable in some cases, I don't think we can always rush to assume that if someone's wealthy and had a career in public service, that it instantly means they're taking bribes or accumulating piles of ill-gotten gains.

If you give me a job making well over 200k year, for well over a decade, and I could've bought some rental properties (at 2010 prices), I'd have a pretty handsome net worth right now too.

Having a salary of 230k+ per year affords someone the luxury of diverting a large annual sum towards things that can product a lot of passive income like certain real-estate investments. You can imagine if you had an extra $100k laying around every year after all your bills were paid, you can do a lot with that in terms of various investing avenues.

 

[Diamond72]

Several lawyers who have had business before the supreme court, including one who successfully argued to end race-conscious admissions at universities, paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions. The payments appear to have been made in connection to Thomas’s 2019 Christmas party.

You need to understand how the good ol' boy works in the court system. Or even in Politics. Hillary worked for a law firm and made a lot of money when Bill was governor. Now she has a fund people donate to. Bill and her daughter each draw a million dollars a year from her fund.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Quid pro RV: Wealthy donor inexplicably gave Clarence Thomas $267,230 to buy an RV in what appears to be an undisclosed gift

Clarence Thomas bought a $267,000 RV using funds from a Democratic donor ​

The money used for the RV came from a former UnitedHealthCare executive who worked alongside Thomas in the Reagan administration​

Weighing in on the ethical issue of accepting such gifts (or "loans"), which have been popping up left and right in similar discoveries as this one in recent months, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who has sponsored new ethics legislation, commented last month that "The disclosures that have come out recently... really compel us to do something for the sake of the court."

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Quid pro RV: Wealthy donor inexplicably gave Clarence Thomas $267,230 to buy an RV in what appears to be an undisclosed gift

Clarence Thomas bought a $267,000 RV using funds from a Democratic donor ​

The money used for the RV came from a former UnitedHealthCare executive who worked alongside Thomas in the Reagan administration​

Weighing in on the ethical issue of accepting such gifts (or "loans"), which have been popping up left and right in similar discoveries as this one in recent months, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who has sponsored new ethics legislation, commented last month that "The disclosures that have come out recently... really compel us to do something for the sake of the court."

Think you linked the wrong article there.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

Actual Supreme Court Justice receiving inexplicable payments to buy vehicles (and school tuition, and free rent for life for your ma)? No problem! Nothing to see here! They're just buds!

An unelected, non-politician businessman receiving money from a business associate of a company he has a stake in used to by a vehicle? CORRUPTION!! QUID PRO QUO!! SCANDAL!!

Wonder what the difference is?