(LibertySons.org) – Democrats have been pushing for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over his failure to disclose extravagant trips that a prominent conservative donor funded. Other Right-wing judges have also come under the Left’s scrutiny. However, when one of their own is reportedly doing the same thing, they remain silent. A recent report has exposed that a liberal Supreme Court justice was acting unethically.
Justice Sotomayor’s Potential Conflicts of Interest
According to a report from the Daily Wire, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was reportedly involved in several copyright cases but failed to recuse herself despite there being a potential conflict of interest. The cases involved publishing conglomerate Penguin Random House. Reportedly, the company infringed on the copyrights of several authors’ works.
In 2010, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, Knopf Doubleday Group, paid the liberal justice a $1.2 million book advance. Then in 2012, she received two additional advance payments, totaling $1.9 million, from the publisher.
Additionally, the Supreme Court justice began receiving payments totaling $500,000 directly from Penguin Random House in 2017, which lasted until at least 2021. Sotomayor has received more than $3.6 million from the publisher.
Sotomayor Failed To Recuse Herself From Several Cases
In 2013, Aaron Greenspan filed a petition with the Supreme Court against Random House. He claimed the company violated his rights when it refused to publish his book about the creation of Facebook. Greenspan attended classes at Harvard University with the big tech company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The publisher instead went with another author’s book covering that topic. Despite her connection with Random House, Sotomayor failed to recuse herself from the case.
Likewise, the liberal justice was also part of a 2020 decision not to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari to children’s author Jennie Nicassio against Penguin Random House. Alarmingly, the same day the author filed the petition, Sotomayor received more than $10,000 from the publishing company. She also received an additional payment of nearly $83,000 shortly after the court handed down its decision against Nicassio.
The Appearance of a Conflict of Interest
Judges and justices are supposed to recuse themselves from cases even if there isn’t a direct conflict of interest. The mere appearance of one is usually enough to warrant recusal. Sotomayor’s former colleague, retired Justice Stephen Breyer, recused himself from similar cases citing the payments he received for his published works from parties in those cases/petitions.
Making matters worse, the money Sotomayor received from Penguin Random House over the years is the largest source of her earned income, towering over the pay she receives from her work on the nation’s highest court.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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