Our Supreme Court used to be an institution that all Americans could rely on to be impeccably honest, nonpartisan, and fair-minded. Tge Court occasionally issued unanimous decisions.

No more.

Several justices have been criticized for accepting money from people or groups with issues before the Court.

None is more profligate in accepting gifts of great value than Justice Clarence Thomas.

ProPublica, a nonpartisan investigative website, has reported on Justice Thomas’s acceptance of many expensive gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow. Vacations, private jets, tuition for his nephew, the purchase of his mother’s home, etc.

Now ProPublica reports that Justice Thomas attended Koch events as a draw to bring in additional donors to Koch’s campaigns to privatize schools, cut taxes on billionaires, and undercut all government programs. Charles Koch and his late brother David had interest in many cases before the Court, but Thomas never revealed his ties to the billionaires nor did he recuse himself.

ProPublica wrote:

On Jan. 25, 2018, dozens of private jets descended on Palm Springs International Airport. Some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead.

Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network’s most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

During the summit, the justice went to a private dinner for the network’s donors. Thomas has attended Koch donor events at least twice over the years, according to interviews with three former network employees and one major donor. The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving.

That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term.

Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts. A Koch network spokesperson said the network did not pay for the private jet. Since Thomas didn’t disclose it, it’s not clear who did pay.

Thomas’ involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who’ve spent time with him there.

Please open the link and keep reading.

The Koch’s invested well. In a 2021 decision, called Americans for Prosperity v. Rob Bonta, Justice Thomas concurred that it violated the first amendment rights of Koch donors (dark money) to require them to disclose their names. Rob Bonta W’s the Attorney General of California, who was trying to force disclosure of the names of donors to the Koch group called Americans for Prosperity.