# The Clarence Thomas led Supreme Court **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 30, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189 "2022-06-30T15:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/161 "2023-06-23T10:38:44Z")
Opportunity lost ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/162 "2023-06-23T12:27:20Z")
Eh, a fishing boat can become a submarine. Once. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/163 "2023-06-23T14:29:02Z")
I would argue that the ability to surface is inherent in the definition of a submarine. Submerging is, as you note, possible for anything that enters the water. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/164 "2023-06-23T16:59:01Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I would argue that the ability to surface is inherent in the definition of a submarine. That would be the ideal, but as recent events have shown, it’s not a requirement. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/165 "2023-06-25T16:21:08Z")
> **[Also, I Shouldn’t Have To Disclose That I Had Sex With A Salmon](https://www.theonion.com/also-i-shouldn-t-have-to-disclose-that-i-had-sex-with-1850566803)** > > By Samuel Alito ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/166 "2023-06-28T13:00:51Z")
Am I the only one concerned that there’s a wealthy, influential person with the initials [L.L](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Leo) running around making trouble? Just me? As long as he doesn’t go bald… ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/167 "2023-06-30T01:44:10Z")
Affirmative action gutted by SCOTUConservative cesspool. Because racism ended back in 1865 /s. Jackson and Sotomayor deliver some scaything disent; some specifically directed at the arch-hypocric Thomas. > **[Ketanji Brown Jackson Skewers Clarence Thomas in SCOTUS' Affirmative Action...](https://jezebel.com/kentaji-brown-jackson-skewers-clarence-thomas-in-scotus-1850547124)** > > "Deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life," Jackson wrote in a blistering dissent, adding some special words for Thomas in a footnote. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/168 "2023-06-30T21:24:50Z")
Another big shitty day for the US courtesy of the conservative cesspool masquerading as justices. First up, woman with no standing (fictitious injury that never happened) wins. The decision could be a civil rights nightmare by allowing businesses open to the public to [refuse to serve people](https://jezebel.com/this-supreme-court-term-will-be-very-very-bad-1849609212) based on their race, religion, or sexual orientation. The case at issue was [already shady](https://jezebel.com/supreme-court-takes-colorado-anti-lgbtq-case-303-creati-1848577183), but [new reporting](https://newrepublic.com/article/173987/mysterious-case-fake-gay-marriage-website-real-straight-man-supreme-court) suggests it’s even more questionable than we knew. > **[Turns Out the Supreme Court's Gay Wedding Website Case May Be Based on a Lie](https://jezebel.com/supreme-court-gay-wedding-website-case-303-creative-lie-1850590742)** > > Lorie Smith has never made wedding websites, but she claims she was asked to by a gay couple. New reporting suggests the request was bogus. Next up is student loan forgiveness passed by congress and administered by the executive: Nope. Roberts even got in a dig at the reforms on the court. And of course, Alito recused himself NOT because his largess benefactor, the billionaire Paul Singer, is the chairman of a conservative think tank that filed an amicus brief in the case. > **[The Supreme Court Just Made Millions of Americans $10,000 Poorer](https://jezebel.com/supreme-court-student-loan-forgiveness-1850580684)** > > On Friday, the ultra-conservative Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program. #mconnelldieinhell ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/169 "2023-07-03T19:09:47Z")
Alito and Thomas have lost all restraint when it comes to taking pricy gifts. (Justice Abe Fortas had to resign in 1969 for what looks to me like a smaller offense.) Alito rubbed our noses in it with that _Wall Street Journal_ “rebuttal.” But as far as I can tell from a quick online search, President Biden has not commented on any of this. Individual Democratic members of Congress have denounced the two justices for their lack of ethics. And President Biden has no qualms about criticizing the Supreme Court for its _decisions_ (after it struck down affirmative action in colleges, he even said, “This is not a normal court”). So why would Biden decide not to call out shamelessly rotten unethical behavior by Supreme Court justices? ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/170 "2023-07-03T19:28:22Z")
> [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > So why would Biden decide not to call out shamelessly rotten unethical behavior by Supreme Court justices? Perhaps because if he did, someone would expect him to do something about it, and with the current senate, he knows he can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/171 "2023-07-09T17:26:44Z")
> **[Investigation Uncovers More of Clarence Thomas' Undisclosed Freebies from...](https://news.yahoo.com/investigation-uncovers-more-clarence-thomas-160506992.html)** > > The Supreme Court justice’s rich friends at the Horatio Alger Association have showered him with benefits, including lavish vacations and funds for a fawning documentary about his life Nothing to see here, everything fine, business as usual. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/172 "2023-07-11T19:20:09Z")
He got a Super Bowl ring as well… > **[Clarence Thomas received a Super Bowl ring from Jerry Jones](https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/clarence-thomas-received-a-super-bowl-ring-from-jerry-jones)** > > When it comes to legal controversies, the NFL likes to resolve them in-house, through a secret, rigged, kangaroo court of compelled arbitration controlled by the Commissioner. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/173 "2023-07-12T13:07:17Z")
Lawyers who used to clerk for Thomas, and who did appear in front of him to argue for their clients, paid money to Thomas’ aid, earmarked as funds for his Christmas party. > [@](#): > > Vasisht’s Venmo account – which was public prior to requesting comment for this article and is no longer – show that he received seven payments in November and December 2019 from lawyers who previously served as Thomas legal clerks. The amount of the payments is not disclosed, but the purpose of [each payment](https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2023/07/11/CT_Venmo_3.png) is listed as either “[Christmas party](https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2023/07/11/CT_Venmo_2.png)”, “[Thomas Christmas Party](https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2023/07/11/CT_Venmo_1.png)”, “CT Christmas Party” or “CT Xmas party”, in an apparent reference to the justice’s initials… > > The lawyers who made the Venmo transactions were: [Patrick Strawbridge](https://consovoymccarthy.com/team/#open-overlay), a partner at Consovoy McCarthy [who recently successfully argued](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/nov/01/ketanji-brown-jackson-affirmative-action-higher-education-admissions) that affirmative action violated the US constitution; Kate Todd, who served as White House deputy counsel under Donald Trump at the time of the payment and is now a managing party of Ellis George Cipollone’s law office; Elbert Lin, the former solicitor general of West Virginia who played a key role in a supreme court case that limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions; and Brian Schmalzbach, a partner at McGuire Woods who has argued multiple cases before the supreme court. > > Other lawyers who made payments include Manuel Valle, a graduate of Hillsdale College and the University of Chicago Law School who clerked for Thomas last year and is currently working as a managing associate at Sidley, and Liam Hardy, who was working at the Department of Justice’s office of legal counsel at the time the payment was made and now serves as a appeals court judge for the armed forces. > > Will Consovoy, [who died earlier this year](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/us/william-consovoy-dead.html), also made a payment. Consovoy clerked for Thomas during the 2008-09 term and was considered a rising star in conservative legal circles. > **[Lawyers with supreme court business paid Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo](https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/12/clarence-thomas-aide-venmo-payments-lawyers-supreme-court)** > > Payments to Rajan Vasisht, an aide from 2019-21, underscore ties between the justice and lawyers who argue cases in front of him Avoiding any appearance of impropriety? Pfffft…that’s for lesser people. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/174 "2023-07-12T13:41:50Z")
So he throws a Christmas party and doesn’t even pay for it himself? But of course he does. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/175 "2023-07-12T13:43:29Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > So he throws a Christmas party and doesn’t even pay for it himself? Yeah, let’s keep calling it a “Christmas party”, since “year end bonus” is just too obvious. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/176 "2023-09-01T02:14:50Z")
“ **Abortion made me do it**!!” > **[Clarence Thomas Really Just Blamed Abortion for His Undisclosed Private Jet...](https://jezebel.com/clarence-thomas-really-just-blamed-abortion-for-his-und-1850793278)** > > Thomas says the fancy flights gifted by Harlan Crow were necessary for his safety after his and his pals' decision to overturn Roe leaked last spring, OK? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/177 "2023-09-01T03:13:08Z")
Is this sumbitch _actually_ blaming Mister Dobbsalina – Mister Bob Dobbsalina?? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/178 "2023-09-01T15:48:17Z")
Zilch! ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/179 "2023-10-02T17:08:43Z")
Thomas actually recused himself today in a case involving Eastman, after reporting that Ginni Thomas had been in touch with Eastman. [https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4233719-supreme-court-denies-eastman-petition-with-rare-recusal-from-thomas/](https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4233719-supreme-court-denies-eastman-petition-with-rare-recusal-from-thomas/) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189/180 "2023-10-02T20:10:37Z")
I suspect that the votes were there to reject that Eastman case whether or not Thomas recused himself, and so he saw this a an easy way to put forth the pretense of judicial ethics without it having any real world consequences. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-clarence-thomas-led-supreme-court/967189.md?page=10)