Clarence Thomas’ wife scored secret big bucks payments from conservative court guru with help from Kellyanne Conway
The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reportedly received nearly $100,000 in secret payments orchestrated by the leader of the conservative Federalist Society — with an assist from former Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.
Ginni Thomas, a prominent far right-wing activist, scored the back-channel payments from Leonard Leo, a powerful court-shaping conservative guru, even as Leo’s non-profit filed briefs to the court on which her husband sits.
The river of cash was channeled through a company run by Conway, Trump’s onetime White House communications chief and campaign manager, according to the Washington Post.
Leo instructed Conway to bill his own non-profit for $80,000 of supposed consulting work and to pass the cash on to Ginni Thomas in 2011 and 2012.
Another $20,000 was planned to be paid by the end of 2012, but it’s unclear if that amount was ever forked over, the paper said.
“No mention of Ginni, of course,” Leo noted in communications orchestrating the payments.
Leo, who is credited with reshaping the top court to reflect right-wing views, pooh-poohed the report, saying he wanted to keep the payments secret to avoid scrutiny of Clarence and Ginni Thomas by “disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people.”
The payments to Thomas’ wife came as Leo’s non-profit filed a brief backing the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in a case named Shelby County vs. Holder.
Clarence Thomas cast a decisive vote in the 5-4 decision in that case.
The undisclosed payments is the latest revelation in a growing scandal involving more than $1 million from right-wing donors that has benefitted Clarence Thomas and his family.
The conservative jurist has taken plush vacations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from GOP mega donor Harlan Crow and failed to disclose them on required financial disclosure forms.
Clarence Thomas, who makes more than $260,000 a year, also failed to disclose his sale to Crow of three Savannah, Ga., properties, including the home where his elderly mother still lives.
Just this week, Crow admitted paying private school tuition for a nephew that Thomas has said was “raising as a son.”
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