A petition created by Faithful America on Wednesday is condemning U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito amid “corruption” claims.
Thomas, who joined the Court in 1991 and is its most senior member, and his wife, Ginni Thomas, have been scrutinized for questionable relationships with influential Republicans in addition to Ginni allegedly trying to help former President Donald Trump win the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Joe Biden.
The relationships include ties to billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow and conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, the co-chairman and former executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society. The ties were further under fire as ProPublica released a report last year that found Thomas and his wife had taken undisclosed trips, and received other benefits, paid for by Crow. Thomas has defended the relationship as he previously said in a statement, describing Crow and his wife as “among our dearest friends.” In addition, in reference to a 2019 trip, which involved flying to Indonesia on Crow’s private jet and touring the islands on Crow’s 162-foot yacht, Thomas said that he was “advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”
Meanwhile, Alito, part of the Court’s conservative majority, was revealed to have accepted a fishing trip to Alaska from hedge fund founder Paul Singer that the justice did not detail in his mandatory annual financial disclosure forms. Separately, Alito faced pushback for owning individual company stocks while ruling on cases that impact the same industries. Alito has previously defended himself, saying that the flight to their Alaska trip was “the only occasion” where he accepted transportation for a social event.
Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images
The Supreme Court announced this past November that it was introducing a new code of conduct for justices amid ongoing calls to implement an ethics code.
In its petition from Wednesday with a goal of 15,000 signatures, Faithful America, an organization of Christians supporting social justice causes while opposing “Christian nationalism,” wrote that the Supreme Court is in “crisis, due in part to deep-seated corruption as religious-right activists and billionaires lavish gifts, houses, and vacations” on Thomas and Alito and called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to act.
“We are deeply concerned about corruption on our nation’s highest court. We are pleased that you authorized subpoenas for religious-right activist Leonard Leo and billionaire Harlan Crow back in November. However, we are also disappointed that you have yet to actually issue the subpoenas. We ask that you act swiftly to issue the subpoenas so the nation can understand the full scope of wrongdoing by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” Faithful America wrote in its petition.
Faithful America added in its petition, which has over 11,817 signatures as of Saturday morning, that due to the “many momentous decisions before the high court,” seemingly noting Trump’s immunity case, “time is of the essence” and cannot wait any longer to “end corruption on the Supreme Court.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Supreme Court and Faithful America via email for comment.
This comes after the former president has sought judgment from the Court in his election interference and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents cases. Immunity claims in the election-related case, brought on by the Department of Justice (DOJ) following Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his loss to Biden, face uncertainty after a federal appeals court’s three-judge panel rejected the claims early last month.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani previously told Newsweek that Thomas and Alito are the two judges that are most likely to back Trump in his presidential immunity claim.
“If I had to guess, I would say Justices Alito and Thomas would be most receptive to the former president’s appeal,” Rahmani said.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Thomas has been mentioned in a petition from Faithful America.
A petition was created last week that called for Thomas to recuse himself from Trump’s immunity case.
“Thomas may have a significant impact on the outcome of this important case despite the facts that he has received unethical payouts from religious-right activists like Leonard Leo and that his wife, Ginni, played a central role in trying to overturn the election,” Faithful America wrote at the time.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.