This is outrageous!
Leonard Leo told GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill nonprofit, then use money to pay spouse of Supreme Court justice
In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents show. The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case.
Leo, a key figure in a network of nonprofits that has worked to support the nominations of conservative judges, told Conway that he wanted her to 'give' Ginni Thomas 'another $25K,' the documents show. He emphasized that the paperwork should have 'No mention of Ginni, of course.' ”
12 comments:
Ted Lieu
@tedlieu
Leonard Leo directed fake invoices to be made so that he could secretly line the pockets of the wife of a Supreme Court Justice. This is corrupt.
Also, invoice fraud is a crime.
But...but...Leonard Leo is a very conservative Catholic! And he commits fraud? Nooooooooo!
A glaring fact is that Thomas now has a veritable bushel basket of undisclosed payments from GOP strategists/influence peddlers many with business before the court.
You can be certain that had one of the justices the GOP regularly attacsk had failed to disclose even the gift of a postage stamp they would be screaming for their head.
This is rampant corruption on the highest court.
It's as though corruption has become a badge of honor with the gop.
Here's a key fact from the story...
"The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case.
Was Leonard Leo buying, or at least trying to buy influence on the SCOTUS?
Or, does it appear to be so?
Because either way, it is a breach of established judicial ethics rules.
There is only one way to save the image of the SCOTUS and possibly right the ship... Justice Thomas must go.
But it won't happen because there is probably some McConnell rule that will prevent it from happening.
A couple of thoughts on the Thomas affair from a commentator this morning...
As a judge, you can't just be fair, you must also be perceived to be fair. Then, if you have nothing to hide, don't hide it.
Sage advice... you all decide how Thomas stands in relationship to those thoughts.
Dave M.
IMO, Judge Thomas has failed to conduct himself in a way that brings honor on the Court, in fact, he has brought scandal and dishonor to it.
He must go.
We also now know that Leo Leonard was not a fan of the Voting Rights Act.
And we know that his organization filed an amicus brief against the Voting Rights Act in a case before the SCOTUS. And of course, the SCOTUS gutted the VRA when that case came before them, with Thomas on the court.
Nothing to see here...
Some thoughts from someone familiar with the law:
What is this???
Is it justice for sale, Justice for sale or some combination?
Whatever it is it has a criminal element to it and also an IRS problem for all involved.
The big $$$ gifts of $500K (private jet vacations) and $150K (private school tuition) is well above the IRS Lifetime Gift Limit of $100K -- so the generous gift givers have an issue there with their tax filings and everything over that $100K limit is taxable to the Justice. That's called Tax Fraud and lots of people go to JAIL for that.
Justice needs to be served here, these are public civil servants acting very uncivilly, helping themselves to big $$$ that is not theirs for the taking.
Justice is not for sale in a Democracy and any appearance of the same needs to be tested in a Court of Law.
The only reason articles of impeachment aren't being drawn up against this dishonest, corrupt, compromised "justice" right now is because not a single Republican has a lick of integrity or honor or shame. Disgusting.
What has also gone unmentioned here is Leonard Leo's work, to stack the Court at great expense, has been exclusively focused on seating hard right Catholics to the Court, Catholics for whom Opus Dei is both inspirational and aspirational.
Decorum has already been lost at the Court and decorum is wasted in covering the obvious corruption at that Court.
Justice, more than ever, must be seen to be done.
Frankie D... exactly.
I look forward to seeing Joe Biden getting reelected in 2024, then seating 5 more Justices in the Supreme Court by the end of his term in 2029. When the SCOTUS has no Republican nominated judges left, we will have won the battle.
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