Today’s links Clarence Thomas and the generosity of a far-right dark-money billionaire: Harlan Crow showered the judge with millions in off-the-books, illegal “gifts.” Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2003, 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading Clarence Thomas and the generosity of a far-right dark-money billionaire (permalink) Clarence Thomas has set some important precedents in his career as a Supreme Court justice – for example, the elevation of the unrepentant rapist Brett Kavanaugh to the bench could never have occurred but for the trail blazed by Thomas as a sexually harassing, pubic-hair distributing creep boss: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/10/01/30-years-after-her-testimony-anita-hill-still-wants-something-from-joe-biden-514884 Today, Thomas continues to steer the court into new territory – for example, he’s interested in banning same-sex marriage again: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/24/thomas-constitutional-rights-00042256 And of course, he’s set precedent by hearing cases related to the attempted overthrow of the US government, despite the role his wife played in the affair: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/30/1089595933/legal-ethics-experts-agree-justice-thomas-must-recuse-in-insurrection-cases Thomas is not alone in furthering the right’s mission to destroy the morale of constitutional law scholars by systematically delegitimizing the court and showing it to be a vehicle for partisan politics and dark money policy laundering, but he is certainly at the vanguard: https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/25/consequentialism/#dotards-in-robes Today, Propublica published an expose on the vast fortune in secret gifts bestowed upon Thomas by the billionare GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, who is also one the most significant funders of political campaigns that put business before Thomas and the Supreme Court: https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow The story, reported by Joshua…Pluralistic: Clarence Thomas and the generosity of a far-right dark-money billionaire (06 Apr 2023)