Forgive me, blogging gods, for such an awful (and too easy) headline.
Anyways.
It's becoming quite obvious that Clarence Thomas should have recused himself from the Citizen's United case. Common Cause has been putting together a financial linkage between Thomas and the Koch Brothers.
When questions were first raised about the retreat last month, a court spokeswoman said Justice Thomas had made a “brief drop-by” at the event in Palm Springs, Calif., in January 2008 and had given a talk.
In his financial disclosure report for that year, however, Justice Thomas reported that the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative legal group, had reimbursed him an undisclosed amount for four days of “transportation, meals and accommodations” over the weekend of the retreat. The event is organized by Charles and David Koch, brothers who have used millions of dollars from the energy conglomerate they run in Wichita, Kan., to finance conservative causes.
It'll be interesting to see where this leads. If the Justice Department determines Thomas indeed had a conflict of interest due to his Koch ties and his wife's think-tank/tea party ties, the ruling could be vacated -- rendered null and void. And that would be very good news.
(Adding... If you're unfamiliar with the story behind my stupid headline, read this.)