The Swamp

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ ethics scandals following revelations by ProPublica showing how the billionaire donor Harlan Crow has paid for lavish vacations for the justice and his family, purchased Thomas’s mother’s home but allowed her to reside free of rent, and paid for the judge’s great-nephew’s private school education.

Now evidence shows lawyers who have had business before the Supreme Court paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions.

The lawyers who made the Venmo transactions include the following according to the Guardian:

Patrick Strawbridge, a partner at Consovoy McCarthy who recently successfully argued that affirmative action violated the US constitution;

Kate Todd who served as White House deputy counsel under Donald Trump at the time of the payment;

Elbert Lin, the former solicitor general of West Virginia who was involved in the supreme court case that limited the EPA’s ability to regulate pollution;

Brian Schmalzbach, a partner at McGuire Woods who has argued multiple cases before the supreme court;

Manuel Valle, a graduate of Hillsdale College currently working as a managing associate at Sidley;

Liam Hardy, who was working at the Department of Justice’s office of legal counsel at the time the payment was made;