It’s not like we haven’t suspected there’s a shadow proper-wing media equipment designed to sanitize Clarence Thomas’ corruption and convert him into a ideal-wing martyr. But The Washington Publish has introduced the receipts. They all appear to be to lead again to SCOTUS justice-picker Leonard Leo.
In circumstance you are not aware of just how a great deal Leo is dependable for the Supreme Courtroom pickle we are in currently, The Write-up points out that he has “led advocacy strategies to support affirm every single conservative Supreme Court docket justice about the previous two decades. He advised President Donald Trump on his range of 3 justices.”
But, seemingly, taking away a woman’s fifty-12 months suitable to make her very own well being treatment decisions, turning back again the clock on civil legal rights, voting rights and homosexual legal rights is not adequate for Leo. He’s also spending loads of dough on retaining the justices in his lap, so to discuss.
Leo steered tens of 1000’s of pounds in consulting payments to Thomas’s spouse, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, in 2012, The Put up reported a short while ago. He also arranged a fishing excursion to Alaska for Justice Samuel Alito in 2008, a holiday that bundled a cost-free trip on the personal jet of a billionaire businessman who later experienced pursuits in advance of the court, ProPublica described.
Leo has also clandestinely steered heaps of money to “lionize” Thomas, as The Post set it, even as some Leo associates ended up working to promote suitable-wing will cause prior to the court.
For example, The Submit studies that in 2016, the twenty fifth anniversary of Thomas’ confirmation, Leo aided secretly finance a PR exertion that involved a professional-Thomas documentary, media assaults on Anita Hill and internet websites celebrating his profession:
It was not evident at the time, but the hurry of favorable content material was portion of a coordinated and innovative community relations marketing campaign to protect and rejoice Thomas, in accordance to a Washington Put up assessment of public and inside records and interviews with people today familiar with the effort. The campaign would extend on for decades and include things like the creation and promotion of a laudatory film about Thomas, marketing to increase beneficial content about him in the course of net lookups and publication of a reserve about his lifestyle. It was financed with at the very least $one.8 million from conservative nonprofit groups steered by the judicial activist Leonard Leo, the assessment located.
A single of individuals conservative groups linked with Leo is the Judicial Education Task. Leo has “no official role” in that group but Mark Paoletta, a law firm it compensated $300,000 for “media tasks,” which includes the movie, explained his “good friend” Leo presented funding for the perform, The Write-up reported. Also, Leo has earlier explained to The Article he is an adviser to the Judicial Schooling Task.
While it was accomplishing Thomas so a lot of solids behind the scenes, the Judicial Education and learning Undertaking was also publicly trying to find his vote on the court docket:
In April 2016, a month after it began paying out Paoletta, the group submitted an amicus transient demanding an Obama method that would have authorized undocumented immigrant mother and father to work legally in the United States. The Supreme Court docket, down to only 8 justices mainly because of the dying of Scalia, break up four-four on the scenario, United States v. Texas, indicating a reduce court’s choice hanging down the method was upheld. The courtroom issued its choice with out releasing how each justice voted.
We can all guess which facet Thomas was on.
I extremely recommend the full post, however you might want to split out the Alka Seltzer or blood tension meds initial.
In any event, Elie Mystal makes a excellent situation for why the Supreme Court docket corruption necessitates substantially more media scrutiny and should really serve as a simply call to motion for Democrats and the left in the approaching election, also.
Nicely, *Actshually* the Supreme Courtroom corruption scandals need to be a Bigger political problem. The political media really should be hounding these corrupt judges and Democrats really should set them entrance and centre throughout the election.
My most up-to-date in @thenation https://t.co/sbpxLUKRYg— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July twenty, 2023
