{"id":28726,"date":"2023-09-23T14:19:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T21:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28726"},"modified":"2023-09-23T14:19:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T21:19:05","slug":"clarence-thomas-secretly-participated-in-koch-network-donor-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/23\/clarence-thomas-secretly-participated-in-koch-network-donor-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men\u2019s retreat in Northern California, with billionaire industrialist David Koch, right, and Ken Burns, whose films Koch has financially supported.\u00a0Credit:Obtained by ProPublica<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Joshua Kaplan<\/a>,\u00a0Justin Elliott<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Alex Mierjeski<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sept. 22, 5 a.m. EDT (ProPublica.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Series:Friends of the Court: SCOTUS Justices\u2019 Beneficial Relationships With Billionaire Donors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas\u2019 decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito\u2019s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation’s highest court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories<\/a> as soon as they\u2019re published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network\u2019s most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the summit, the justice went to a private dinner for the network\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form<\/a>, 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\u2019t disclose it, it\u2019s not clear who did pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas\u2019 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\u2019s 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\u2019ve spent time with him there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the Koch network, formally known as Stand Together, did not answer detailed questions about his role at the Palm Springs events but said, \u201cThomas wasn\u2019t present for fundraising conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea that attending a couple events to promote a book or give dinner remarks, as all the justices do, could somehow be undue influence just doesn\u2019t hold water,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of the sitting Justices and many who came before them have contributed to the national dialogue in speeches, book tours, and social gatherings,\u201d the statement added. \u201cOur events are no different. To claim otherwise is false.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a series of stories this year, ProPublica reported that Thomas has accepted undisclosed luxury travel from Crow<\/a> and a coterie of other ultrawealthy men<\/a>. Crow also purchased Thomas\u2019 mother\u2019s home<\/a> and paid private school tuition<\/a> for the child Thomas was raising as his son. Thomas has said little in response. In a statement earlier this year, he said that Crow is a close friend whom he has joined on \u201cfamily trips.\u201d<\/a> He has also argued that he was not required to disclose the free vacations. Thomas did not respond to questions for this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The code of conduct<\/a> for the federal judiciary lays out rules designed to preserve judges\u2019 impartiality and independence, which it calls \u201cindispensable to justice in our society.\u201d The code specifically prohibits both political activity and participation in fundraising. Judges are advised<\/a>, for instance, not to \u201cassociate themselves\u201d with any group \u201cpublicly identified with controversial legal, social, or political positions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the code of conduct only applies to the lower courts. At the Supreme Court, justices decide what\u2019s appropriate for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine \u2014 it takes my breath away, frankly \u2014 that he would go to a Koch network event for donors,\u201d said John E. Jones III, a retired federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush. Jones said that if he had gone to a Koch summit as a district court judge, \u201cI\u2019d have gotten a letter that would\u2019ve commenced a disciplinary proceeding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing is a slow creep toward unethical behavior. Do it if you can get away with it,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Koch network is among the largest and most influential political organizations of the last half century, and it\u2019s underwritten a far-reaching campaign to influence the course of American law. In a case the Supreme Court will hear this coming term, the justices could give the network a historic victory: limiting federal agencies\u2019 power to issue regulations in areas ranging from the environment to labor rights to consumer protection. After shepherding the case to the court, Koch network staff attorneys are now asking the justices<\/a> to overturn a decades-old precedent. (Thomas used to support the precedent but flipped his position<\/a> in recent years.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charles and David Koch Credit:David Zalubowski\/AP Image and Dia Dipasupil\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, one of the network\u2019s groups was the plaintiff<\/a> in another Supreme Court case, which was about nonprofits\u2019 ability to keep their donors secret. In that case, Thomas sided with the 6-3 conservative majority in the Koch group\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Koch did not respond to detailed questions for this story. David Koch died in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Koch network is an overlapping set of nonprofits perhaps best known for its work<\/a> helping cultivate the Tea Party movement in the Obama years. Recently rebranded as Stand Together, the network includes the powerful Americans for Prosperity Action, which spent over $65 million supporting Republican candidates in the last election cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Charles Koch is one of the 25 richest people in the world, worth an estimated $64 billion<\/a>, he raises money from other wealthy people to amplify the network\u2019s reach. The network brought in at least $700 million in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. It has more than 1,000 employees who, on paper, work for different groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for all its complexity, the network is a centralized operation, staffers said. Many of the groups occupy the same buildings in Arlington, Virginia, and share leadership and often staff. Many of the donations go into a central pot, from which hundreds of millions of dollars are disbursed to the smaller groups focused on various political and social concerns, according to tax filings and former employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, the Kochs have held deep antipathy to government regulation. When Charles Koch\u2019s brother David ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980, the party platform called for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every winter, the network holds its marquee fundraising event in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Hundreds of donors fly in to learn how their money is being spent and plan for the coming year. Former staffers describe an emphasis on preventing leaks that bordered on obsession. The network often rents out an entire hotel for the event, keeping out eavesdroppers. Documents left behind are methodically shredded. One recent attendee recalled Koch security staff in a golf cart escorting their Uber driver out of the hotel to make sure he left. The former staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To score an invite to the summit, donors typically have to give at least $100,000 a year. Those who give in the millions receive special treatment, including dinners with Charles Koch and high-profile guests. Doling out access to powerful public officials was seen as a potent fundraising strategy, former staffers said. The dinners\u2019 purpose was \u201cgiving donors access and giving them a reason to come or to continue to come in the future,\u201d a former Koch network executive told ProPublica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the 2018 Koch donor summit in Palm Springs, California, a speaker touted the network\u2019s accomplishments defeating taxes and government regulations. Credit:via Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thomas has attended at least one of the dinners for top-tier donors, according to a donor who attended and a former high-level network staffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese donors found it fascinating,\u201d said another former senior employee, recounting a Thomas appearance at one summit where the justice discussed his judicial philosophy. \u201cDonors want to feel special. They want to feel on the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former fundraising staffer for the Koch network said the organization\u2019s relationship with Thomas was considered a valuable asset: \u201cOffering a high-level donor the experience of meeting with someone like that \u2014 that\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many details about Thomas\u2019 role at the summits, including the specifics of his remarks, remain unclear. The network spokesperson declined to answer if Thomas\u2019 appearances were ever tied to a specific initiative or program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas\u2019 appearances were arranged with the help of Leonard Leo<\/a>, the Federalist Society leader, according to the former senior network employee. \u201cLeonard was the conduit who would get him,\u201d the former employee said. During one summit, Thomas gave a talk with Leo in an interview format, the donor recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJustice Thomas attends events all over the country, as do all the Justices, and I was privileged to join him,\u201d Leo said in a statement<\/a> in response to questions about the Koch donor events. \u201cAll the necessary due diligence was performed to ensure the Justice\u2019s attendance at the events was compliant with all ethics requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While attending the donor events would likely violate the lower courts\u2019 prohibition on fundraising, experts said, the Supreme Court has a narrow internal definition<\/a> of a fundraiser: an event that raises more money than it costs or where attendees are explicitly asked for money while the event\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Thursday before the January 2018 summit in Palm Springs, Thomas flew there on a chartered private jet, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. Four days later, the plane flew to an airport outside Denver, where Thomas appeared at a ceremony honoring his former clerk, federal Judge Allison Eid. The next day, it flew back to northern Virginia where Thomas lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas\u2019 financial disclosure for that year<\/a> contains two speaking engagements: one in New York City and another at a Federalist Society conference in Texas. His trip to the Koch event in California is not on the form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thomas\u2019 2018 disclosure form did not include his trip to the Koch donor summit in Palm Springs. Credit:via the Free Law Project<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the event that year, the Koch network rented out the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa. On the main stage, donors heard from Hall of Fame NFL cornerback Deion Sanders, who was working with the Kochs on anti-poverty programs in Dallas. Another speaker delivered a report card on the group\u2019s political wins large and small: \u201crepealed voter-approved donor disclosure initiative\u201d; \u201cretraction of mining & environmental overreach\u201d; \u201cstopped Albuquerque paid sick leave mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the event, the group announced a new initiative<\/a> focused on getting conservatives on the Supreme Court and the federal bench. The network, which had already given millions of dollars to Leo\u2019s Federalist Society, planned to mobilize its activists and buy advertisements to push senators to vote for President Donald Trump\u2019s judicial nominees. They appointed a former employee of Ginni Thomas, the justice\u2019s wife, to lead the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first glimpse of Thomas\u2019 connection to the network came more than a decade ago. In 2010, reporters<\/a> obtained an invitation<\/a> sent to potential Koch donors that mentioned Thomas had been \u201cfeatured\u201d at one of the network\u2019s previous summits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After critics called for more information about Thomas\u2019 attendance, the Supreme Court press office downplayed the episode. A court spokesperson acknowledged Thomas had been in the Palm Springs area during the Kochs\u2019 January 2008 summit. However, she said he was there to talk about his memoir at a Federalist Society dinner that was separate from the donor summit but was also sponsored by Charles Koch. She added that Thomas made a \u201cbrief drop-by<\/a>\u201d at the network summit that year but said he \u201cwas not a participant.\u201d (Thomas disclosed<\/a> the 2008 Palm Springs trip as a Federalist Society speech.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 15 years since, the Koch network has left a deep imprint on American society. Its advocacy is credited with helping stamp out Republican Party support for combating climate change, once an issue that drew bipartisan concern. The \u201cfull weight of the network<\/a>\u201d was thrown behind passing the 2017 Trump tax cut, securing a windfall<\/a> for the Kochs and their donors. And the upcoming Supreme Court term could bring the network a victory it has pursued for years: overturning a major legal precedent known as Chevron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most Americans aren\u2019t familiar with the 1984 case Chevron v. NRDC, it\u2019s one of the Supreme Court\u2019s most-cited decisions. Legal scholars sometimes mention it in the same breath as Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. In essence, Chevron is about government agencies\u2019 ability to issue regulations. After a law is enacted, it\u2019s generally up to agencies across the government to make detailed rules putting it into effect. The Chevron decision said courts should be hesitant to second-guess the agencies\u2019 determinations. In the years that followed, judges cited Chevron in upholding rules that protect endangered species, speed up the approval process for new cellphone towers and grant benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Koch network has challenged Chevron<\/a> in the courts and its lobbyists have pushed Congress to pass a law nullifying the decision. It has also provided millions of dollars<\/a> in grants to law professors making the case to overturn it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The network\u2019s position has become increasingly popular in recent years. Once broadly supported by academics and judges on the right, Chevron is now anathema to many in the conservative legal movement. And there\u2019s no more prominent convert than Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2005, Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case<\/a> that expanded Chevron\u2019s protections for government agencies. Ten years later, he was openly questioning the doctrine. Then in 2020, Thomas renounced his own earlier decision<\/a>, writing that he\u2019d determined the doctrine is unconstitutional after all \u2014 a rare reversal for a justice with a reputation for being unmovable in his views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By last year, Koch network strategists sensed that victory could be at hand. During an internal briefing for network staff, Jorge Lima, a senior vice president at Americans for Prosperity, said the Supreme Court seemed primed to radically change its approach to the issue. The network was trying to find cases that could bring about major changes in the law, according to a video of the meeting obtained by the watchdog group Documented. \u201cWe\u2019re doubling down on this strategy,\u201d Lima told the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several months later, the Supreme Court announced it would take up a case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo<\/a>, in which Koch network staff attorneys represent the plaintiffs. If Thomas and his colleagues side with them this coming term, Chevron will be overturned once and for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without Chevron, \u201cany place you would need regulation to address a pressing social problem, it\u2019s going to be more costly to get it, harder to implement it and it\u2019s not going to go as far,\u201d said Noah Rosenblum, a professor at New York University School of Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bLoper Bright is a case seeking to restore one of the core tenets of our democracy: that Congress, not the administrative agency, makes the laws,\u201d the Koch network spokesperson said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethics experts said Thomas\u2019 undisclosed ties to the Koch network could call his impartiality in the case into doubt. This sort of potential conflict is why the judiciary has rules against both political activity and fundraising, they said. \u201cParties litigating in the court before Justice Thomas don\u2019t know the extent of Thomas\u2019 relationship with the parties on the other side,\u201d said James Sample, a Hofstra University law professor who studies judicial ethics. \u201cYou have to be pretty cynical to not think that\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court itself said in a recent statement to The Associated Press<\/a> that \u201cjustices exercise caution in attending events that might be described as political in nature.\u201d But unlike with lower court judges, there is no formal oversight of the justices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two decades ago, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opening remarks at a lecture cosponsored by the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, a women\u2019s rights group that filed friend-of-the-court briefs at the Supreme Court. It was a public event co-sponsored by the New York City Bar Association. But some judicial ethics experts criticized<\/a> the justice for affiliating herself with an advocacy group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirteen Republican lawmakers, including Mike Pence and Marsha Blackburn, who now sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, went further, calling on Ginsburg<\/a> to recuse herself from any future cases related to abortion. The justice brushed off the criticism: \u201cI think and thought and still think it\u2019s a lovely thing,\u201d she said of the lecture series. (Ginsburg died in 2020.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles and David Koch\u2019s access to Thomas has gone well beyond his participation in their donor events. For years, the brothers had opportunities to meet privately with Thomas thanks to the justice\u2019s regular trips to the Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat that attracts some of the nation\u2019s most influential corporate and political figures. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for 25 years as Harlan Crow\u2019s guest, according to internal documents and interviews with dozens of members, other guests and workers at the retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charles Koch at the Grove. His hat features the club\u2019s owl insignia. Credit:Obtained by ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing emerge is someone who is living his professional life in a way that\u2019s seeing these extrajudicial opportunities as a perk of the office,\u201d said Charles Geyh, a judicial ethics expert at Indiana University law school. Judges can have social lives, he said, and there are no clear lines for when a social gathering could pose a problem. But the confluence of powerful political actors and undisclosed gifts puts Thomas\u2019 trips far outside the norm for judges\u2019 conduct, Geyh said: \u201cThere\u2019s a culture of impartiality that\u2019s really at risk here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grove is an exclusive, two-week party held in the Sonoma County redwoods every July. A member or his guest can wander from the Grove\u2019s shooting range to a lecture by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, or from a mint julep party to a performance by the Grove\u2019s symphony orchestra. Wine, sometimes at $500 a bottle, flows freely, and late at night, members consume clam chowder and chili by the gallon. More than one attendee recalled walking outside in the morning to find a former cabinet secretary who fell asleep drunk in the grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a saying among the Bohemians, as the club\u2019s members call themselves: The only place you should be publicly associated with the Grove is in your obituary. That privacy is paramount, members said, in part to allow the powerful to speak freely \u2014 and party \u2014 without worrying about showing up in the press. Only designated photographers are allowed to take pictures. Cellphones are strictly forbidden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An entrance to the Grove Credit:Preston Gannaway, special to ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Members typically must pay<\/a> thousands of dollars to bring a guest. Several people ProPublica spoke to said that before the pandemic, they saw Thomas there just about every year. ProPublica was able to confirm six trips Thomas took to the retreat that he didn\u2019t disclose. Flight records suggest Crow has repeatedly dispatched his private jet to Virginia to pick up Thomas and ferry him to the Sonoma County airport and back, usually for a long weekend in the middle of the Grove festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was taken with how comfortable he was in that environment and how popular,\u201d a person who stayed in the same lodge as Thomas one year said. \u201cHe holds court there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to questions about his travel to the Grove with Thomas, Crow said Thomas is \u201ca man of incredible integrity\u201d and that he\u2019s never heard the justice \u201cdiscuss pending legal matters with anyone.\u201d Neither Crow nor Thomas responded to questions about whether the justice reimbursed him for the trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Other justices have Grove connections too. The mid-20th-century Chief Justice Earl Warren was a member. Among modern justices, Thomas appears to have been the most frequent guest. Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, attended many years ago. Justice Stephen Breyer went in 2006; he told ProPublica he was the guest of his brother and that to the best of his memory, he paid his own way. Justice Anthony Kennedy went at least twice before he retired. Kennedy, who did not respond to a request for comment, did not disclose the trips. It\u2019s unclear if he needed to because his son is a member and gifts from family don\u2019t need to be reported.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The annual Grove festival kicks off with a highly produced ceremony in which an effigy representing worldly cares and concerns is burned. Credit:Obtained by ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Grove is broken up into more than 100 \u201ccamps,\u201d essentially adult fraternity houses where the same group of men stay together year after year. Hill Billies was George H. W. Bush\u2019s camp. Nancy Pelosi\u2019s husband has been a longtime member of Stowaway. Thomas stays with Crow at a camp called Midway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the ritzier camps, Midway employs a staff of cooks and personal valets and boasts an extensive wine cellar. The men sleep in private cabins that zigzag up a hillside. Known for its Republican leanings, Midway has a string of superrich political donors as members, including an heir to the Coors beer empire and the owner of the New York Jets. Charles Koch is an active member, as was his brother David. It\u2019s not clear if Thomas has ever been the guest of a member other than Crow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bohemians, as the club\u2019s members call themselves, mingle on the deck of Midway camp. Credit:Obtained by ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the annual retreats, the Kochs often discussed political strategy with fellow guests, according to multiple people who\u2019ve spent time with them at Midway. A few years ago, Brian Hooks, one of the leaders of their political network, was a guest at the camp the same weekend Thomas was there. A former Midway employee recalled the brothers discussing super PAC spending during the Obama years and complaining about government regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChevron was one of the big things the Koch brothers were interested in,\u201d the former employee said. He did not remember if Thomas was present for any of the discussions of the doctrine.Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Thomas and the Kochs developed a bond over their years at the retreat, according to five people who spent time with them there. They discussed politics, business and their families. They often sat together at meals and sat up talking at night at the lodge. A photo obtained by ProPublica captures Thomas and David Koch smiling on Midway\u2019s deck. David\u2019s windbreaker features an owl insignia, the symbol of the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One tradition at Midway is a lecture series, often held beneath the redwoods on the camp\u2019s deck. The weekend Thomas was there in July 2016, the Midway schedule featured a talk from Henry Kissinger and another by Michael Bloomberg and Arthur Brooks, then president of the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute. Over breakfast Friday morning, the author Bjorn Lomborg delivered a lecture on climate change. Lomborg has for years argued the threat of global warming is overstated, saying that rising temperatures will actually save lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Midway schedule featured a talk by Thomas and other events. Credit:Highlighting by ProPublica. Obtained by ProPublica.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thomas spoke that year as well. He talked about his friend Justice Scalia, who had recently died, according to a person who attended. Scalia, a conservative luminary, had been a prominent advocate for the Chevron doctrine, but Thomas said he believed his colleague was coming around to Thomas\u2019 revised view on it before his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas didn\u2019t explain what he meant by that. \u201cIt was an aside,\u201d the person said, \u201clike he assumed most of the people in the room knew his position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donate Now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Kaplan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh Kaplan is a reporter at ProPublica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n