DoomsdaysCWNew #SCOTUS Disclosures Show 2023 Was a Good Year for Several Justice-Authors' Bank Accounts
June 7, 2024
Is SCOTUS internalizing the lessons on #ethics? Maybe.
"Four Supreme Court justices supplemented their income with payments from their book deals, three accepted money for teaching, and only two accepted any reportable gifts in 2023, according to financial disclosures released Friday. Justice Alito was the only sitting justice to request an extension.
"These disclosures are the first to be released since the Court announced its adoption of a Code of Conduct (Nov. 2023) and the first since the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation from ProPublica was published (Apr. 2023&ff). Given the wide array of data in the reports, it’s difficult to ascertain whether recent ethics scandals have changed the justices’ behavior. In fact, there are some conflicting signs.
"According to #ClarenceThomas’ disclosure, he did not accept any gifts of private plane travel or resort stays from #HarlanCrow or any of his other prior benefactors in 2023. The only gift he accepted was $2,000 in 'photo albums' from the outgoing executive director of the Horatio Alger Association, Terry Giroux, and Giroux’s wife, Barbara. (Justice Jackson’s gifts are noted later in the release.)
"What’s more, Thomas wrote at the end of his report that his 2019 FDR “is hereby amended to include the following entries under the reimbursement section, which was inadvertently omitted at the time of filing,” and he lists a one-night stay at a hotel, with free food, in Bali and a four-day, three-night stay at #BohemianGrove (though he doesn’t write “Bohemian Grove”).
"On the one hand, amendments like these show growth and are appreciated. On the other hand, ProPublica reported that Thomas flew to Indonesia on a private plane for his summer jaunt, and from this omission in the appendix, it appears that either Thomas made another error or he believes neither travel on a private plane owned by a friend (though it’s really owned by his friend’s company, #HRZNARLLC) nor overnight stays on a yacht owned by a friend (really Crow Holdings, LLC) to be reportable."
#OligarchCamp #SCOTUSIsCompromised #ImpeachJusticeThomas
#ScotusIsCorrupt #ImpeachClarenceThomas #ErikPrince #Oligarchy #USPol