Don't Be Distracted by Weinergate: The Scandalous "Judicial Insider Trading" ofJusticeClarenceThomas, Wife "Ginni"
By BradFriedman
Posted at June 13, 2011, 6:02 am
As we reported in January,Thomas appears to have "knowingly and willfully" filed falsified Financial Disclosure Forms which withheld disclosure of nearly $700,000 his wife received from the rightwing Heritage Foundation for the better part of the last 20 years. Only once it was pointed out publicly this year did Thomas bother to file "self-initiated amendments" to the forms he had signed just above the legal warning in bold and all caps which reads: "NOTE: ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO KNOWINGLYAND WILLFULLY FALSIFIES OR FAILS TOFILE THIS REPORTMAY BE SUBJECT TO CIVILAND CRIMINAL SANCTIONS (5 U.S.C. app. § 104)"
While there has been little indication that law enforcement is actually investigating the crimes of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice (which, as we pointed out in January, are punishable by up to $50,000 and/or 1 year in jail for each instance of falsification), last Friday when Thomas' Financial Disclosure Form for 2010 [PDF] was released, the matter appears to have gotten shadier still, leading at least one government watchdog organization to describe what Thomas and his wife Virginia "Ginni" Thomas may be been doing as "Judicial Insider Trading."
Connecting the dots, it would seem the couple made huge profits fromThomas' participation and insider knowledge of last year's Citizens United ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court, as we'll show you below.
While BarackObama's DoJ seems to be looking the other way, there was one person in Congress trying to bring attention to this issue last week with hisConflictedClarence.com website: Rep. AnthonyWeiner...
http://www.alternet.org/newsan...as,_wife_%22ginni%22
See also:
Clarence Thomas's conflict of interest on Affordable Care Act
TUEMAY31, 2011AT06:01 PM PDT
Supreme Court Justice ClarenceThomashas somewhat of a conflict just being a justice, concerning the very right-wing and very prominent political activities of his wife, Ginni. But that conflict is particularly a problem since the Supreme Court will almost undoubtedly be hearing a case against the Affordable Care Act, the law that his wife has been paid handsomely to fight. A Friday afternoon news dump consisting of his financial disclosure form highlights this little problem he has.
The disclosure was apparently prompted in part by Rep. AnthonyWeiner…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/...-Affordable-Care-Act
House Democrats say Justice Thomas should recuse himself in health-care case
Posted at12:21 PM ET, 02/ 9/2011
Seventy-four House Democrats have signed a letter to ClarenceThomasasking the Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from any deliberations on the constitutionality of the national health care overhaul, arguing that his wife's work as a lobbyist creates "the appearance of a conflict of interest."
…Here is the full text of the Democrats' letter: …
…Given these facts, there is a strong conflict between theThomashousehold's financial gain through your spouse's activities and your role as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. We urge you to recuse yourself from this case. If the US Supreme Court's decision is to be viewed as legitimate by the American people, this is the only correct path.
We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
ANTHONYD.WEINER
Member of Congress