WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted secret luxury vacations from a Republican megadonor for more than two decades without disclosing them. The trips were funded by Harlan Crow, a real-estate billionaire and Republican Party donor, who treated Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas to luxury vacations, stays at his properties and private resort, as well as free travel on his private jet and superyacht. Thomas didn’t disclose that travel on his annual financial disclosure forms, which appear to violate a federal law mandating top officials from the three branches of government, including the Supreme Court, file annual forms detailing their finances, outside income, and spouses’ sources of income. Judges are prohibited from accepting gifts from anyone with business before the court, and until a month ago the judicial branch had not defined an exemption for gifts considered “personal hospitality.” Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Thomas’ actions were “simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court,” adding that “the highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, called for Thomas to be impeached, saying “this is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking - almost cartoonish.” (ProPublica / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News / CBS News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)

2/ The Supreme Court refused to reinstate a West Virginia law barring transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at school. West Virginia’s 2021 law – the Save Women’s Sports Act – was challenged by a 12-year-old middle school transgender girl and her parents to allow her to continue running on her middle school cross-country and track teams. The Supreme Court was not considering the ban on the merits but instead addressed whether the law should remain on hold while legal proceedings continue in lower courts. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, saying they would have granted the request to immediately reinstate the ban on transgender girls from participating on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Some 19 states have enacted laws like West Virginia’s in the last three years. (NPR / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post /