A powerful judicial activist reportedly arranged for a conservative group — with business before the Supreme Court — to secretly pay Justice Clarence Thomas' wife. (via MaddowBlog)
But as yesterday came to a close, Thomas’ ethics troubles had managed to become even more serious, thanks to a stunning Washington PostConservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.
It’s likely that Leo’s name is unfamiliar to most Americans, but in political and legal circles, especially in Washington, D.C., he’s earned a reputation as a"" and a judicial activist with few, if any, rivals. Leo is perhaps best known, for example, for having helped run the Federalist Society. But as part of his extensive reach, Leo has also served as an adviser to other conservative outlets, including a non-profit organization called the Judicial Education Project. In 2012, around the time that the Judicial Education Project had filed a Supreme Court brief in a landmark voting rights case, Leo reportedly instructed Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway — Donald Trump’s future campaign manager — to bill the group and use the money to surreptitiously pay Ginni Thomas.
Leo didn’t deny any of this, though he told the Post there was nothing improper about the arrangement. As for where this leaves us, I find it implausible to imagine Thomas resigning from the Supreme Court, in part because his Republican allies continue to stand behind him. In 2016, while on the campaign trail, Trump boasted, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.
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