Do you think Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas listens to Beyoncé?
Maybe? Either way, in 2018, the controversial judge flew into California’s Coachella Valley for one of the snazziest events of the year. Unlike other influencers who make their way to Coachella, however, Thomas didn’t post about it on Instagram — or his financial disclosure forms.
Of course, the event Thomas went to had nothing to do with the beloved music festival. Still, a new investigation from ProPublica uncovered his recent participation in a fundraiser hosted by the Koch brothers in the same desert valley in Southern California. (Oddly enough, the actual Coachella also has Koch connections.)
Per the publication, a network of nonprofits handled by Charles Koch, an influential conservative, hosts its largest fundraiser in the Coachella Valley every winter. There, hundreds of donors fly in with cash in hand for a jam-packed weekend with their pals.
NO SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SHOULD BE HOSTIG OR SPEAKING AT ANY FUNDRAISER PERIOD. by doing so should call for immediate removal from their position.
But guess they can as corrupt as they like and nothing can be done to them.
This mother fucker is stripping our rights away and in October going see a case that going strip us of our ability to fight against financially Institutions. Which by they if they vote to strip it will also destroy social security and medicare.
Things can be done about it, but one party will never vote against one of their own
Well, they shouldn’t be getting paid for it (or accept “accommodations”)
But I wouldn’t mind if they flacked for something relatively inoffensive at fundraisers.
Cancer research? Subsidized childcare in poor neighborhoods? Alma mater scholarship funding?
There’s a lot of apolitical fundraising.
Irrelevant. Any one of those organizations can still find themselves needing to defend their position in court. Just because it’s not a political issue doesn’t change the presence of bias.
So could any restaurant chain. Are they not allowed to eat out? Or shop at stores? Or have a favorite sports team?
There’s a point where it becomes unreasonable to ask them to stay neutral and detached. Especially as they can always recuse themselves.
Edit:typo
Edit 2: there’s also a major difference between political decisions and any other matter that comes before the court. The Supreme Court is tasked with overseeing a number of government cases. That’s a primary responsibility. They need to be apolitical in order to handle that aspect of their work–or they would need to recuse themselves constantly.
But they are still people. They can still have preferences. They can still do good in the world beyond their jobs.
Recusing from the rare overlap of a particular cause is reasonable. Recusing for political bias is not.
Apolitical fundraising is fine.
Edit 3: I’d appreciate hearing an actual argument here instead of just down voting. Without that it seems like people just don’t like a different point of view
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Cool. This story is about a Supreme Court Justice though. It’s okay to keep focused on the issue.
Clarence Thomas aside for one second…
How the hell did this article get past an editor’s desk without a single “Kochella” pun in it.
J. Jonah Jameson would have someone packing their desk for this. The headline writes itself.
Someone get me a picture of Spider Thomas at that event!
Who’s fucking bright idea was lifetime appointments? This is absurd. An un-fireable public servant who is obviously corrupt and we all sit here like “wish we could do anything but the founding fathers…” What the fuck is this?
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What the fuck is this?
Democracy. American-flavored. Yee-haw.
My good sir, it seems you’ve penta-posted your comment.
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One would think the violent right wing extremists would do something about this but I guess they’re too busy harassing Librarians. Or are they just masquerading as patriots?
Harassing librarians is part of their patriot cosplay
Clicked the link and now I’m wondering why that girl has no belly button.
Clarence is for sure a piece of trash, though.
Edit: Mobile, so typing.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Still, a new investigation from ProPublica uncovered his recent participation in a fundraiser hosted by the Koch brothers in the same desert valley in Southern California.
Per the publication, a network of nonprofits handled by Charles Koch, an influential conservative, hosts its largest fundraiser in the Coachella Valley every winter.
Aside from being incredibly exclusive, the Koch Network’s principal event is also extremely private, per ProPublica: Organizers rent out entire hotels and meticulously shred any documents on-site.
In 2018 — just like Queen Bey a few miles away — Thomas was one of the headliners at the event, this one at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indian Wells.
A high-level staffer with the Koch brothers’ nonprofit network told ProPublica that Thomas attended dinners with the wealthiest donors and even gave guests a look into his judicial philosophy.
Thomas did not list the trip on his 2018 financial disclosure — a recurring theme for the Justice — and a former federal judge who spoke to ProPublica said his attendance, while not illegal, does raise questions about his conflicts of interest when handling Supreme Court cases with ties to the brothers.
The original article contains 447 words, the summary contains 191 words. Saved 57%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Dude is untouchable. Why are we bother with this? It’s just pushing people off for no reason.
