Ginni Thomas' Anonymous Donations Questioned: 'So Much Wrong With This'
* Anonymous donations of almost $600,000 were made to the group Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty, led by Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
* Social media users highlighted a potential conflict of interest and some called for an investigation.
* Democratic lawmakers Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi are among those tweeting about the issue.
Questions are being asked about anonymous donations to a group led by Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty had received almost $600,000 from anonymous sources.
Thomas, an attorney, has been the subject of controversy because of conversations she had with Mark Meadows in the weeks after the 2020 election. In text messages to Meadows, who was then White House chief of staff, Thomas encouraged him to continue efforts to overturn the results.
The Post reported that the right-wing think tank Capital Research Center had channeled $596,000 to Crowdsourcers between 2019 and the beginning of last year.
A lawyer for Thomas, Mark Paoletta, told the newspaper she was "proud of the work she did with Crowdsourcers, which brought together conservative leaders to discuss amplifying conservative values with respect to the battle over culture."
He added: "She believes Crowdsourcers identified the left's dominance in most cultural lanes, while conservatives were mostly funding political organizations. In her work, she has complied with all reporting and disclosure requirements.
"There is no plausible conflict of interest issue with respect to Justice Thomas."
The Post said a spokeswoman for the Supreme Court did not respond to questions for Justice Thomas. The newspaper also reported that it was not clear if Ginni Thomas had received any remuneration from Crowdsourcers, or whether or how the money had been spent.
Social media users have raised questions about the donations, given that Justice Thomas is the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court's conservative wing.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, pointed to the Post's report that $400,000 of the total had been routed through another nonprofit group that supports conservative causes, Donors Trust.
Whitehouse tweeted: "Donors Trust was central to the far-right Court-packing operation, and now they pass secret donor funds to a justice's spouse, but 'no plausible conflict of interest'? Please."
Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, posted on Twitter: "Supreme Court justices and their spouses should be independent and stand apart from political influence campaigns."
Michelangelo Signorile, a SiriusXM host, tweeted: "Yeah, donations surely from those who want things from her husband. So much wrong with this."
Keith Boykin, an author and former White House aide, wrote:"If Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had to recuse herself from the Harvard affirmative action case, then Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from all the cases on right-wing issues in which his activist wife, Ginni Thomas, is involved."
The group End Citizens United mentioned ethics legislation proposed by Senator Whitehouse in its tweet about the issue: "Dark money is funding Ginni Thomas' MAGA activities, including her work with extremist groups that have business before SCOTUS. @SenWhitehouse's Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act aims to end this corruption and promote judicial ethics."
Lawyer Tristan Snell tweeted: "The Senate Judiciary Committee should launch an investigation into donors and other partisan actors improperly influencing the Supreme Court. One of their subpoenas should go to Ginni Thomas."
Newsweek has reached out to the Supreme Court via email for comment.
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Originally Posted by George Jung
