An aide to Clarence Thomas received money from a number of lawyers in connection to a social event (a Christmas party) in which one person paid for an expense out of convenience that was to be mutually shared by all.

You're starting with "lawyers have professional social circles" and ending up at "American constitutional democracy has failed" without connecting a single dot in-between.

if you want to stick your head in the sand instead of paying attention to whats been going on with the SC lately, that's your prerogative

To summarize what you've said, Clarence Thomas is corrupt because he invited a bunch of former colleagues out on a Christmas celebration and said friends venmo'd each other money to cover whatever incidental costs they incurred on their night out.

In response, I'd point out that the article which you linked didn't even draw that as a takeaway.

read back through this thread where you and I have already argued about the other instances of Thomas engaging in dubious behavior, this is just one more example

In what way has Thomas engaged in dubious behavior here? Should he be instructing his aides not to have friendly relationships with other highly qualified lawyers?

Apply this to any other scenario. Is it a political conspiracy if congressional staffers socialize? If CEOs meet at a function, is the FTC notified? No and no, this is a sloppy political propaganda and we should hold ourselves to a higher standard.

did you read the article?

*Frothing at the mount screaming at scotus.*

There are two problems. One, as we've gone over, the money was not paid to Clarence Thomas. Two, this sort of thing is incredibly common in all walks of life. I need to transfer money to a colleague to cover the cost of a golf work event I'll be attending next month. The idea that a party is ok if friends take it in turns to cover $1000 in costs, but not ok if each chips in $100 is absurd. That's precisely what Richard Painter is suggesting, it is ok if a (lawyer) friend of Thomas hosts a $10k event and invites Thomas, and Thomas hosts a $10k event and invites said friend in turn, but it's not ok if they go out to a nice restaurant, one person picks up the cheque, and the rest venmo him later.

This post was edited by bogie160 on Jul 13 2023 06:43am

big day tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act


https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/releases/durbin-urges-his-colleagues-to-support-supreme-court-ethics-reform-legislation

if nothing else, this statement alone is reason enough for Congress to impose new judicial ethics rules on SC justices