The past five weeks has seen a flurry of media activity, clearly coordinated, against the right-of-center U.S. Supreme Court.
First, the outlet ProPublica began publishing a series of pieces “exposing” the well-known fact of Justice Clarence Thomas’ long-running friendship with billionaire real estate tycoon Harlan Crow, and alleging ethical improprieties pertaining to the justice’s purported failure to disclose certain information. Second, Politico alleged a conflict of interest for Justice Neil Gorsuch in an old real estate transaction in his native Colorado that involved the CEO of a major law firm. Third, Business Insider relied on a “whistleblower” to allege corruption on the part of Jane Roberts, the wife of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, due to her being a well-compensated legal recruiter. Fourth, The New York Times ran a lengthy and meandering front-page story about the at-times coziness between George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and some of the Court’s right-of-center justices.