Gillibrand Blasts Ruling on Wal-mart Discrimination Case - Canandaigua, NY by Julie Sherwood- MPNnow

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U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand released the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today to overturn the lower court’s ruling that would have allowed more than one million women to proceed with a class-action discrimination lawsuit against Wal-mart.

“I am deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the lower court’s decision and deny the largest civil rights class action suit in our history from moving forward. Pay discrimination in the workplace is unacceptable and all too real. Women in this country will continue to face an uphill battle until Congress fulfills its obligation to level the playing field and close existing loopholes by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. The time to end discrimination is now and I will continue to work with my colleagues to end this economic injustice"

Following Pressure By Rep. Weiner, Justice Clarence Thomas Admits Spouse Earned Up To $150,000 More From Anti-Healthcare Group

Virginia Thomas’ Salary From Anti-Health Care Firm Only Adds to Clear Conflict of Interest, Need for Recusal

  

Today, after months of pressure from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn), Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas publically released his financial disclosure forms, which reveal that he has an even greater conflict of interest in cases related to health care reform than was originally speculated, with his wife having received salary from Liberty Central, an organization that actively supports the repeal of health care reform. This latest filing casts even further doubt on Justice Thomas’ impartiality.

See Thomas’ filing HERE

“We knew that Justice Thomas’s family had a financial stake in opposing health care reform.  Now we know even more,” Weiner said. “It’s pretty clear the Justice has one option here: recusal.”

Earlier this year, Rep. Weiner and 90 of his colleagues sent a letter to Justice Thomas calling on him to recuse himself from deliberations on health care reform due to the appearance of a conflict of interest related to income his spouse, Virginia Thomas, has received from groups that oppose health care reform. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Americans have signed petitions calling for Justice Thomas to recuse himself.

What Was Known:

•  Justice Thomas failed to cite his wife’s income on financial disclosure forms for 20 years.
• Recently, he was forced to amend earlier financial disclosure forms after he failed to list $685,000 in salary his wife received from the Heritage Foundation, an organization that actively opposes health care reform
• Separate IRS documents released by Liberty Central, seen HERE, reveal that Ms. Thomas may have received upwards of $150,000 from the organization in 2010, and was slated to receive as much as $165,000 in 2011 and $180,000 in 2012, if she had continued to work there beyond 2010.

What Was Learned Today:

• Financial disclosure forms finally made public by Justice Thomas this afternoon confirm for the first time that his wife was also being paid salary and benefits by Liberty Central, another right-wing organization that is currently working to overturn health care reform
• If Thomas was in fact paid up to$150,000 by Liberty Central in 2010, that would mean she’s received a total of nearly $850,000 from anti-health care organizations, including the previously disclosed $685,000 from the Heritage Foundation – all the more reason Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself.
• Justice Thomas for the first time also filed a value of $15,000 or less in gross value for Liberty Consulting, Inc, the new anti-health care lobbying firm recently founded by his wife in late 2010.

Bench Press: Colbert: 'You Want To Interrupt And Belittle People? Get Your Own Show on Fox" to Anthony Weiner - The Colbert Report

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Bench Press - Anthony Weiner

Anthony Weiner wants to ensure that the Supreme Court upholds a standard of ethics by asking Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from health care cases. (05:25)

Rep Weiner Responds to Speech by Justice Thomas Declaring Agreement with Spouse on Health Care Reform

Following a speech on Saturday by Justice Clarence Thomas at Virginia Law School's 30^th Annual Student Symposium in which he criticized those who have called upon him to recuse himself from considerations of health care reform and at the same time aligned himself with the same values as his spouse, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn), the author of a letter signed by 90 Members of Congress calling on the associate justice to recuse himself, released the following response:

"This only confirms the need for Justice Thomas to recuse himself. By declaring his support and shared views of his spouse, he adds to the perception that his mind is made up. He undermines confidence in our highest court."

Justice Thomas Too Close to the Koch Brothers? - Rachel Maddow Show

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Conflict of Interest Questions Continue to Swirl Around Justice Clarence Thomas
Common Cause submitted a letter to the Department of Justice on January 19th raising questions about whether Justices Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia had attended closed-door strategy and fundraising sessions sponsored by Koch Industries.

The Supreme Court responded that Justice Thomas' involvement was limited to "a brief drop by." But that answer, coupled with a Common Cause review of financial disclosure statements, raises more questions than it answers.

Read more in the New York Times.

Press release: Feb. 14 letter to the Supreme Court clerk

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC - The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard

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http://storyofcitizensunited.org ---- Season Two launches on March 1st with The Story of Citizens United v. FEC , also our first film for 2011, and it's an exploration of the inordinate power that corporations exercise in our democracy.

I know you are but what am I?

by Annie Leonard

I’m a person.

Chances are if you’re reading this you’re a person too.

Exxon? Not a person.

But one year ago today, five members of the U.S. Supreme Court got this simple truth all wrong.

In the case Citizens United v. FEC they ruled that the limited existing restrictions on corporate spending on U.S. elections were unconstitutional because corporations are entitled to the same first amendment speech protections that individual citizens–people–enjoy in our democracy.

And boy did corporations put this ruling to good use:

According to a new report by our friends at Public Citizen, spending by outside groups during the 2010 midterm elections in the United States jumped to $294.2 million, up from just $68.9 million in the 2006 cycle. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce alone spent $31.2 million to influence election outcomes.

That means that unless we act, our concerns–from good jobs to clean air to safe products–will take even more of a backseat to the concerns of Walmart, Exxon, and Dow than they do now.
Which is why on March 1st we’re launching Season Two of our on-line movie series with The Story of Citizens United v. FEC: Why Democracy Only Works When People are in Charge.

I made The Story of Stuff back in 2007 because I wanted people to understand that there’s a system behind the way we make, use and throw away Stuff. Many of us spend so much time feeling guilty about the consumer choices we make in life that we sometimes forget an important truth: the choices that got us into our current environmental and economic mess had very little to do with which light bulb or shampoo we buy.

It wasn’t you or I who decided to gut public transportation funding in favor of the interstate highway system, or to turn a blind eye to oil rig safety, or to put carcinogens in our products. At least, I didn’t!

I founded The Story of Stuff Project because I knew we’d never be able to take on and change this system unless people got engaged–not only as conscious consumers, but also as active citizens. Unfortunately, there’s a big obstacle in our way: corporations have way too much influence in our democracy.

Our team believes that getting corporations out of our democracy (and getting people back in) is critical to making progress on a huge range of issues that we Americans, and many others around the world, care about.

So on March 1st, we’re jumping in.

Rep Weiner and 73 Other Democratic Representatives Calls on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to Recuse Himself on Health Care Bill - The Ed Show - msnbc

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Congressman Anthony Weiner talks about why he and 75 other members of Congress are calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from ruling on any health care legislation while his wife is actively engaged in defeating it...The Ed Show - msnbc.com

Rep Weiner & 73 House Members Call on Thomas to Recuse Himself from Health Care Reform Case

Impartiality Questioned after Revelations of Financial Gain and Disclosure Lapses

Following reports that the spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a lobbyist who has gained financially from efforts to overturn health care reform, a conflict of interest the associate justice failed to disclose, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn) and 73 of his House colleagues sent a letter to Justice Thomas calling on him to recuse himself from any deliberations on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Full text of the letter below:

The Honorable Justice Clarence Thomas

United States Supreme Court Building

1 First Street Northeast

Washington D.C., DC 20543

Dear Justice Thomas:

As an Associate Justice, you are entrusted with the responsibility to exercise the highest degree of discretion and impartiality when deciding a case. As Members of Congress, we were surprised by recent revelations of your financial ties to leading organizations dedicated to lobbying against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We write today to respectfully ask that you maintain the integrity of this court and recuse yourself from any deliberations on the constitutionality of this act.

The appearance of a conflict of interest merits recusal under federal law. From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife's financial stake in the overturn of healthcare reform is blurred. Your spouse is advertising herself as a lobbyist who has “experience and connections” and appeals to clients who want a particular decision - they want to overturn health care reform. Moreover, your failure to disclose Ginny Thomas’s receipt of $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a prominent opponent of healthcare reform, between 2003 and 2007 has raised great concern.

This is not the first case where your impartiality was in question. As Common Cause points out, you “participated in secretive political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the [5-4] decision” on the Citizens United case. Your spouse also received an undisclosed salary paid for by undisclosed donors as CEO of Liberty Central, a 501(c)(4) organization that stood to benefit from the decision and played an active role in the 2010 elections.

Given these facts, there is a strong conflict between the Thomas household’s financial gain through your spouse’s activities and your role as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. We urge you to recuse yourself from this case. If the US Supreme Court's decision is to be viewed as legitimate by the American people, this is the only correct path.

We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

ANTHONY D. WEINER

Member of Congress

Current co-signers include:

Reps. Al Green, EB Johnson, Wm. Lacy Clay, Russ Carnahan, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Karen Bass, Richard E. Neal, Peter Welch, Judy Chu, John A. Yarmuth, Betty Sutton, Ed Perlmutter, Gerald E. Connolly, Dennis Kucinich, Greg Meeks, Allyson Y. Schwartz, Lloyd Doggett, Gwen Moore, Jared Polis, Maxine Waters, Donald M. Payne, Bobby L. Rush, Steve Cohen, Joe Crowley, Eliot L. Engel, David N. Cicilline, Susan Davis, Albio Sires, Michael F. Doyle, Louise McIntosh Slaughter, Jim McDermott, Nydia Velazquez, John Garamendi, Andre Carson, Michael E. Capuano, Shelley Berkley, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Tim Bishop, Barbara Lee, Joe Courtney, Rosa L. DeLauro, John Conyers, John Larson, George Miller, Leonard L. Boswell, Donna F. Edwards, Lois Capps, Xavier Becerra, Theodore E. Deutch, Steve Israel, William L. Owens, Laura Richardson, Yvette Clarke, Mazie K. Hirono, Gary Ackerman, Keith Ellison, Raul M. Grijalva, Chris Murphy, Lynn C. Woolsey, Peter A. DeFazio, Jesse Jackson Jr, Silvestre Reyes, Carolyn Maloney, Robert E. Andrews, Bill Pascrell Jr, Bob Filner, Paul Tonko, Marcia L. Fudge, Maurice Hinchey, Michael M. Honda, Anna G.Eshoo, Frank Pallone Jr, Fortney Pete Stark