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The more meaningful issues, however, raise questions about the justice's veracity. We learned in January, for example, that Thomas was required to report his wife's income on his financial disclosure forms, but for several years, for reasons that remain unclear, he chose not to.
This month, it's an even more serious controversy that's raising eyebrows.
Discrepancies in reports about an appearance by Justice Clarence Thomas at a political retreat for wealthy conservatives three years ago have prompted new questions to the Supreme Court from a group that advocates changing campaign finance laws.
When questions were first raised about the retreat last month, a court spokeswoman said Justice Thomas had made a "brief drop-by" at the event in Palm Springs, Calif., in January 2008 and had given a talk.
In his financial disclosure report for that year, however, Justice Thomas reported that the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative legal group, had reimbursed him an undisclosed amount for four days of "transportation, meals and accommodations" over the weekend of the retreat.
The event in question was organized by the right-wing Koch Brothers.
Scrutinizing Clarence Thomas:Justice Recieved Money for 4-Day 'Drop By' at Koch Bros Event
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- Public Discussion (9)
Thomas attended an event where powerful conservatives discussed strategies for overturning campaign finance laws. This was soon followed by Thomas participating in a case related to campaign finance laws, and concluded with Thomas ruling to overturn campaign finance laws, giving the Koch Brothers considerably more political power.
He just "dropped by" -- for 4 days -- gave a speech -- and got reimbursed. Hmmmmm.
- 13 votes
#1 - Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:59 PM ESTFunny you would think that's front page News.
- 9 votes
#2 - Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:03 PM ESTI wonder if it would be front page if a Dem nominated justice did something similar?
- 13 votes
The court needs a code of ethics since they cannot be trusted to wield the judgment to act ethically by themselves.
- 8 votes
With Thomas, we've known that since his confirmation hearings.
- 7 votes
Thomas, Alito and Scalia all have close ties to the Koch Brothers. He has already established that he will willfully and knowingly falsify federal documents to cover up funds recieved from these organizations. When will enough be enough? If the Congress will not impeach him, the Justice department must file criminal charges against him for purjury.
- 10 votes
#3 - Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:50 PM ESTWhy do the Koch brothers hide behind the Justices robes? Are they puppets or have they been bought and paid for ?
- 3 votes
#4 - Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:19 PM ESTWho creates laws? Who amends laws? Who words the laws? Who repeals laws? The answers, of course, are legislators and justices. Suppose, for example, you are incredibly wealthy AND what you have is not enough. In other words, you want more, just because, you want more. Standing in your way are some laws and regulations somehow preventing you from making more money. In other words, you want to change laws and regulations so that you get todo whatever you want. What better way to get what you want than to 'hire' legislators and justices to do your bidding? It must be nice to have that capacity. And that's not good.
- 3 votes
The Koch brothers are the most corrupting force I've seen. They are anti-democratic and anti-American, seeking to subvert our government and system to please themselves. It's at least as much about authoritarianism as it is about money, I'm convinced. They simply want to have their way with us, and if they can make a small fortune doing it, all the better.
As much as I focus on democracy vs. fascism here, I've realized that authoritarianism is a threat to our way of life and manifest in both fascism and in the sort of mega-greed we've seen in the last decade. Our government has become more authoritarian due to the actions on the right-wing. I'm beginning to recognize authoritarian behavior where actions are taken for no good reason but to satisfy an authoritarian urge. Often enough wrong and even self-defeating actions are undertaken just to satisfy that urge. It's an important negative, subversive, and corruption influence on our nation and lives.
I'll write an article focusing on this soon.
- 4 votes
#5 - Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:32 PM ESTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
