When questions were first raised about the retreat last month, a court spokeswoman said Justice Thomas had made a “brief drop-by” at the event in Palm Springs, Calif., in January 2008 and had given a talk.
In his financial disclosure report for that year, however, Justice Thomas reported that the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative legal group, had reimbursed him an undisclosed amount for four days of “transportation, meals and accommodations” over the weekend of the retreat. The event is organized by Charles and David Koch, brothers who have used millions of dollars from the energy conglomerate they run in Wichita, Kan., to finance conservative causes.
Look the Kochs fund basically all of conservatism, so what's wrong with wanting to help out their Supreme Court friends too? We all know Clarence Thomas will vote the way they want him too anyway, even if he can't accept gifts from them. Common Cause should be going after the senators who let him get on the Court, not Clarence Thomas, because Supreme Court justices are untouchable by anything but the hand of Death. And, you know, Clarence Thomas seems to be good friends with Death too. [ NYT ]
I used to think Justices of the Peace who perform marriages for $$ outside of their official duties had a license to print money. This must be the big time!
It's hard to blame Thomas for wanting to have something to do. It's just show up, shut up, vote with Scalia. He's like the Ringo of SCOTUS.