As yesterday got underway, the legal and political worlds were jolted by a new report alleging Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: Harlan Crow, a Republican megadonor and longtime Thomas benefactor, paid the private school tuition for a member of the justice’s family — generosity that the far-right jurist neglected to disclose.
It came against a backdrop of related revelations about Thomas accepting decades’ worth of unreported gifts and luxury trips from Crow, as well as news about the real estate magnate buying property from Thomas, which the justice also failed to disclose.
But as yesterday came to a close, Thomas’ ethics troubles had managed to become even more serious, thanks to a stunning Washington Post report.
Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.
It’s likely that Leo’s name is unfamiliar to most Americans, but in political and legal circles, especially in Washington, D.C., he’s earned a reputation as a “conservative powerhouse” and a judicial activist with few, if any, rivals. Leo is perhaps best known, for example, for having helped run the Federalist Society.
But as part of his extensive reach, Leo has also served as an adviser to other conservative outlets, including a non-profit organization called the Judicial Education Project. In 2012, around the time that the Judicial Education Project had filed a Supreme Court brief in a landmark voting rights case, Leo reportedly instructed Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway — Donald Trump’s future campaign manager — to bill the group and use the money to surreptitiously pay Ginni Thomas.
According to the Post’s reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, Leo told Conway he wanted to “give” Ginni…
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