- Between 2004 and 2018, justices collectively disclosed taking 1,306 trips paid for by others, including 219 taken by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, some of which were paid for by a wealthy Democratic donor family, according to Open Secrets.
- As Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham noted during the Tuesday Judiciary Committee hearing, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also donated a signed copy of her decision in the United States v. Virginia case— which ruled the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only admissions policy unconstitutional—to an auction the organization hosted to raise money.
- “Where was the outrage from the Left then? The current campaign is about intimidating the Court’s originalist majority, not ethics,” JCN President Carrie Severino told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Democrats have been trying to call out Clarence Thomas for alleged ethics violations, but they totally ignore the same actions perpetrated by the liberal judges on the Supreme Court. Justice Thomas was given trips by a personal friend who happens to be a billionaire. Sotomayor on the other hand took gifts from people who did have business with the court and she refused to recuse herself from two votes involving her publisher who had paid her $3.6 million dollars. Ten thousand of that was paid to her on the day of her vote.
Justice Breyer had the same publisher, but he recused himself from both votes and Sotomayor took ten times the amount Breyer did.
Following the ProPublica report on Clarence Thomas’ vacations, which were paid for by long-time friend and billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow, Democrats called for Thomas’s resignation. But, Breyer took 219 trips before resigning from the court and liberals never uttered a word about it. Likewise, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sold her signed copy of one of the court cases. Three of Breyer’s trips in 2018 were funded by the Chicago-based Pritzker family, which has donated millions of dollars to Democratic causes.
Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz highlighted Breyer’s travel during Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court ethics:
“In 2019, [Justice Breyer] traveled to New York City, to Vancouver and Paris,” Cruz said. “In 2018, Justice Breyer traveled to Ireland and Spain. In 2016, he traveled to New York, Spain and France. In 2013, he traveled to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In 2012, he traveled to Beijing and to London — all of this paid for by the Pritzker Foundation.”
“I’m not suggesting that he is corrupt. What I am suggesting is this committee is corrupt.”
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELWhile Breyer disclosed his trips, Thomas did not disclose trips taken with Crow, though Thomas said colleagues told him the trips were “not reportable,” because they were considered personal hospitality from a friend.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg likewise disclosed taking a trip funded by billionaire Israeli businessman Morris Kahn — one of 14 trips she took in 2018 — who had business before the court the previous year, according to Open Secrets.
She also had extensive ties to a women’s rights group with frequent business before the court, the National Organization for Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund (NOW LDEF).
Ginsburg spoke at an event hosted by the organization, its annual “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture Series on Women and the Law,” just two weeks after taking the position advocated for by that group in its amicus brief, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2004.
Stephen Gillers, New York University law professor and legal ethics expert, said at the time that her decision to speak at the event was a “judgement call.”
Carrie Severino told the Daily Caller News Foundation:
“Justice Ginsburg’s signing the VMI opinion for the benefit of NOW’s PAC—which financially supports candidates running for office—expressly violates a judge’s ethical duty to refrain from political activity. Where was the outrage from the left then? The current campaign is about intimidating the Supreme Court’s originalist majority, not ethics.”
