Tag Archives: Supreme Court

SCOTUS To Decide If Public Officials Can Block Critics

Courthouse News reports: The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear two cases arising from public officials blocking critical commenters on their social media accounts, after the Sixth and Ninth Circuits reached different conclusions on whether the constituents’ free speech rights were violated. The first case involves two elected members of the Poway Unified School District Board of Trustees in San …

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Thomas’ Benefactor Did Have Case Before SCOTUS

Bloomberg News reports: Justice Clarence Thomas said he was advised he didn’t have to disclose private jet flights and luxury vacations paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow because, although a close friend, Crow “did not have business before the court.” But in at least one case, Crow did. In January 2005 the court declined to hear an appeal from an …

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Dem Senator Demands Full List Of Gifts To Thomas

Congress Minutes reports: Sen. Ron Wyden is asking Harlan Crow to provide a complete account of gifts and payments that were given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — marking one of the first information requests made to the GOP billionaire himself. The Senate Finance chair sent a letter to Crow on Monday, requesting a detailed list of gifts and …

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SCOTUS Continues Stay On Abortion Pills Rulings

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked new restrictions set by lower courts on a widely used abortion pill, delivering a victory to President Joe Biden’s administration as it defends broad access to the drug in the latest fierce legal battle over reproductive rights in the United States. The justices, in a brief order, granted emergency requests by …

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John Roberts Invited To Testify On SCOTUS Ethics

CNBC reports: The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday invited Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month before the panel about ethics reform of the court. The invitation to Roberts by Sen. Dick Dubin, D-Ill., for the May 2 appearance came in the wake of a series of revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas that have …

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SCOTUS Extends Stay On Texas Abortion Pills Ruling

Reuters reports: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday kept on hold limits set by lower courts on access to the abortion pill mifepristone in a challenge by anti-abortion groups to the drug’s federal regulatory approval. The decision to keep the matter on hold gives the justices more time to consider requests by President Joe Biden’s administration and the …

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Senate Dems Plan Hearing On Supreme Court Ethics

NBC News reports: Key Senate Democrats are eyeing a hearing about Supreme Court ethics in the wake of revelations about Justice Clarence Thomas receiving previously undisclosed gifts and luxury travel from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the majority whip and Judiciary Committee chair, said the “20 years of gift travel on yachts and chartered planes was …

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Thomas’ Billionaire Benefactor: This Is A Political Hit Job

The Dallas Morning News reports: “I think it’s a political hit job,” Crow said. “I don’t think the media cares really much about Harlan Crow, and I think they’re right. They shouldn’t care much about Harlan Crow.” “But I think that the media, and this ProPublica group in particular, funded by leftists, has an agenda to destabilize the [Supreme] Court. …

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Thomas To Amend Disclosures To Reflect Home Sale

CNN reports: Justice Clarence Thomas intends to amend his financial disclosure forms to reflect a 2014 real estate deal he made with a GOP megadonor – an acknowledgment that the transaction should have been disclosed almost a decade ago, a source close to Thomas tells CNN. The deal between Thomas and Harlan Crow, a Dallas real estate magnate and long-time …

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WaPo: Thomas Reported Big Income From Defunct Firm

The Washington Post reports: Over the last two decades, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has reported on required financial disclosure forms that his family received rental income totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a firm called Ginger, Ltd., Partnership. But that company — a Nebraska real estate firm launched in the 1980s by his wife and her relatives — …

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SCOTUS Temporarily Restores Access To Abortion Pill

The New York Times reports: Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a temporary stay on Friday ensuring that a common abortion pill would remain widely available while the Supreme Court decides whether to grant a formal stay. The interim stay will expire at midnight on Wednesday. Such a stay is meant to preserve the status quo while the justices study …

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Senate Dems Under Pressure To Have Thomas Testify

Roll Call reports: Advocacy groups have urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to call Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to testify about his relationship with a billionaire GOP donor, a move experts say would escalate conflict between two branches of government and could lead to a separation-of-powers showdown. Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and other Democrats on the …

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Donor Bought And Renovated Thomas’ Mother’s Home

ProPublica reports: In 2014, one of Texas billionaire Harlan Crow’s companies purchased a string of properties on a quiet residential street in Savannah, Georgia. It wasn’t a marquee acquisition for the real estate magnate, just an old single-story home and two vacant lots down the road. What made it noteworthy were the people on the other side of the deal: …

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DOJ To Ask SCOTUS To Pause Abortion Pill Restrictions

The Washington Post reports: A federal appeals court late Wednesday partially blocked a decision by a judge in Texas to suspend U.S. government approval of a key abortion medication but set significant restrictions on the pill that could limit access nationwide. The court’s order maintains mifepristone’s availability for now, although it temporarily prevents the drug from being sent to patients …

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Clarence Thomas’ Benefactor Collects Hitler Artifacts

The Washingtonian reports: When Republican megadonor Harlan Crow isn’t lavishing Justice Clarence Thomas with free trips on his private plane and yacht (in possible violation of Supreme Court ethics rules), he lives a quiet life in Dallas among his historical collections. These collections include Hitler artifacts—two of his paintings of European cityscapes, a signed copy of Mein Kampf, and assorted …

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WSJ Board Condemns “Smearing” Of Clarence Thomas

From the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal: The left’s assault on the Supreme Court is continuing, and the latest front is the news that Justice Clarence Thomas has a rich friend who has hosted the Justice on his private plane, his yacht, and his vacation resort. That’s it. That’s the story. Yet this non-bombshell has triggered breathless claims …

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Thomas: I Was Told I Didn’t Have To Report Those Trips

From a statement issued today by Clarence Thomas: Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from …

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SCOTUS Rules Trans WV Student Athlete May Compete

NPR reports: The U.S. Supreme Court refused Thursday to intervene in an ongoing case involving West Virginia’s law banning transgender girls from participating in girls sports teams at school. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. The court’s action came on its emergency docket, sometimes dubbed the shadow docket because decisions are made without full briefing or argument, and …

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Senate Dems Vow Action After Thomas Is Exposed For Decades Of Secret Luxury Travel Gifted By Megadonor

Mediaite reports: Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) strongly condemned the revelations in a ProPublica report about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, calling the conservative jurist’s acceptance of luxury travel and other gifts from a Republican megadonor an example of “troubling ethical conduct” and vowing his committee would take action. The report, published Thursday morning, describes Thomas and his wife, …

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Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From Donor

ProPublica reports: In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef. If …

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