Report: Conservative activist requested Ginni Thomas’s name be omitted from payment notes.

Conservative Judicial Activist Instructs Wife’s Name to be Left Off Billing Paperwork

Background:

The Supreme Court is currently under scrutiny for its ethics and reporting standards, with some Democratic senators calling for an investigation into Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Story:

According to the Washington Post, Leonard Leo, a conservative judicial activist, instructed Kellyanne Conway to bill one of the nonprofit groups he advised for and pay Ginni Thomas for her consulting services in January 2012. However, Leo explicitly said not to mention Ginni Thomas’s name on the billing paperwork. The documents obtained by the Washington Post reportedly made clear that the billing paperwork should have “no mention of Ginni, of course.” The $25,000 sent to Conway’s Polling Company was listed as “Supplement for Constitution Polling and Opinion Consulting.” It is unclear what work Ginni Thomas did for Leo’s nonprofit group or Conway’s polling firm based on the documents acquired.

Leo’s Defense:

Leo defended Ginni Thomas by saying the work she did for him “did not involve anything connected with either the court’s business or with other legal issues” and added that he has “always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni” in a statement to the Washington Post.

Other Reports:

A report from ProPublica suggested that GOP donor Harlan Crow bankrolled the private school tuition of Clarence Thomas’s grandnephew, who was being raised by the justice “as a son.” Additionally, a separate report from the Daily Wire said Justice Sonia Sotomayer had not recused herself from several copyright cases related to Penguin Random House despite receiving more than $3 million for her books with the publisher.

Takeaway:

The controversy surrounding the Supreme Court’s ethics and reporting standards continues to grow, with new reports and calls for investigations. It remains to be seen how this will impact the court and its decisions moving forward.

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