Please write or call your representatives in Congress and let them know you want accountability on these issues from both Thomas and Scalia! The right wing thinks it can get away with anything -- and it does, time and time again. We, the people must raise our voices and demand integrity from--of ALL PEOPLE--our Supreme Court Justices!!!! These two conservative Republican justices cannot be trusted, even in matters of personal integrity, let alone making court decisions that impact us all. Unless we make ourselves heard by our representatives, offenses against liberty and justice will continue from the right wing.
from Common Cause: Holding Power Accountable
The integrity of Supreme Court justices ought to be beyond reproach.
Last week we told you that Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, because of their involvement with secret political meetings hosted by Koch Industries, may have had a conflict of interest when they issued their ruling in Citizens United -- the case that opened the floodgates of corporate and special interest spending on elections. And we challenged the Justice Department to investigate. (1)
Now, Common Cause has discovered that Justice Thomas failed to disclose any of his wife's income between 2003 and 2009, though public documents show that she earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that works on issues that regularly come before the Supreme Court, and an unknown salary from Liberty Central, a political action group. We have brought the matter to the Judicial Conference of the United States. (2)
We have a right to open, honest and accountable government -- and that includes the justices who serve on the Supreme Court.
We need a full accounting of Scalia and Thomas' involvement with Koch Industries, the second largest privately held company in the U.S., and a major player in political campaigns and in the Tea Party. Reports indicate that the Koch brothers have spent millions to influence elections, and regularly host secret strategy sessions with corporate leaders and political activists. (Truth and Wisdom comment: The billionaire Koch brothers have made big donations to Clarence Thomas's wife's political organizations. They also funded the "Swiftboaters" in the 2004 election, with false accusations against Kerry. They are now funding denials that climate change is harming the planet. See below in blue print for more info. on this.)
The public also deserves accurate answers on justices' disclosure forms, so that potential conflicts of interest are revealed before they can do harm.
Climate Change Denials Funded by Koch Brothers
The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
from Common Cause: Holding Power Accountable
The integrity of Supreme Court justices ought to be beyond reproach.
Last week we told you that Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, because of their involvement with secret political meetings hosted by Koch Industries, may have had a conflict of interest when they issued their ruling in Citizens United -- the case that opened the floodgates of corporate and special interest spending on elections. And we challenged the Justice Department to investigate. (1)
Now, Common Cause has discovered that Justice Thomas failed to disclose any of his wife's income between 2003 and 2009, though public documents show that she earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that works on issues that regularly come before the Supreme Court, and an unknown salary from Liberty Central, a political action group. We have brought the matter to the Judicial Conference of the United States. (2)
We have a right to open, honest and accountable government -- and that includes the justices who serve on the Supreme Court.
We need a full accounting of Scalia and Thomas' involvement with Koch Industries, the second largest privately held company in the U.S., and a major player in political campaigns and in the Tea Party. Reports indicate that the Koch brothers have spent millions to influence elections, and regularly host secret strategy sessions with corporate leaders and political activists. (Truth and Wisdom comment: The billionaire Koch brothers have made big donations to Clarence Thomas's wife's political organizations. They also funded the "Swiftboaters" in the 2004 election, with false accusations against Kerry. They are now funding denials that climate change is harming the planet. See below in blue print for more info. on this.)
The public also deserves accurate answers on justices' disclosure forms, so that potential conflicts of interest are revealed before they can do harm.
Climate Change Denials Funded by Koch Brothers
The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
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