(NewsNation) — A judicial activist directed tens of thousands of dollars be paid to the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for consulting work with “no mention” of her name, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
In January 2012, Leonard Leo instructed Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use the money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, according to documents reviewed by the Post. The nonprofit, Judicial Education Project, filed a brief in a landmark Supreme Court case that same year.
Leo told Conway he wanted her to “give” Thomas “another “$25K” and make sure the paperwork have “No mention of Ginni, of course,” according to the Post. In all, Conway’s polling firm paid Ginni Thomas’ consulting firm $80,000 between June 2011 and June 2012.
The new report comes on the heels of previous ones from ProPublica that revealed GOP megadonor Harlan Crow treated the Thomases to lavish vacations. ProPublica also reported Crow paid the private school tuition for one of Clarence Thomas’ relatives.
The reporting prompted congressional outcry, and a Senate panel this week held a hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform. Chief Justice John Roberts declined to testify at the hearing, saying the court already follows an ethics code.
“The reputation of the Supreme Court is at stake here,” Sen. Dick Durbin said. “The credibility of the court, when it comes to its future decisions is at stake.”
Sen. John Cornyn defended the Supreme Court justice.
“This is part of a 32-year campaign to discredit Clarence Thomas,” Cornyn said. “There’s no indication at all that any of this had any impact on his official duties as a judge.”
Thomas has not denied the allegations. Instead, he says his legal advisers told him he didn’t need to disclose the transactions.
The Hill contributed to this report.
