Democrats are attacking Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court over gifts, while one of their preferred Justices may be involved in a much greater controversy.
According to a report in The Daily Wire, Penguin Random House has given Justice Sonia Sotomayor millions of dollars. Due to her participation in litigation affecting the corporation, this financial tie has generated concern.
“In 2010, she got a $1.2 million book advance from Knopf Doubleday Group, a part of the conglomerate. In 2012, she reported receiving two advance payments from the publisher totaling $1.9 million,” it said.
“In 2013, Sotomayor voted in a decision for whether the court should hear a case against the publisher called Aaron Greenspan v. Random House, despite then-fellow Justice Stephen Breyer recusing after also receiving money from the publisher. Greenspan was a Harvard classmate of Mark Zuckerberg’s who wrote a book about the founding of Facebook and contended that Random House rejected his book proposal and then awarded a deal to another author who copied his book and eventually turned it into the movie The Social Network,” the report said.
“In 2017, Sotomayor began receiving payments each year from Penguin Random House itself, which continued annually through at least 2021, the most recent disclosure available, and totaled more than $500,000. In all, she received $3.6 million from Penguin Random House or its subsidiaries, according to a Daily Wire tally of financial disclosures,” it said.
“In October 2019, children’s author Jennie Nicassio petitioned the Supreme Court to hear her lawsuit against Penguin Random House alleging that the book publisher had copied her book by selling one that was nearly identical. On the same day that the petition was distributed to the justices, Sotomayor received a $10,586 check from the publisher,” it said.
Since the “writ of certiorari” was rejected by the higher court, the lower court’s decision in favor of the publisher will stand. The decision will take effect in February 2020.
The next month, Justice Sotomayor got a cheque from the parent firm of her publisher for $82,807, the biggest check she had ever received.
Justice Sotomayor’s vote is unknown, but we do know that, in contrast to Justice Breyer, she did not recuse herself from the matter.
Justice Breyer made the decision to disqualify himself from cases involving the publisher despite earning just $340,000, or one-tenth of what Justice Sotomayor received.
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The majority of Justice Sotomayor’s non-Supreme Court income came from her publisher, who also paid for her public speaking appearances.
“So Liberal SCOTUS Justice Sotomayor took over $3 million from Penguin Random House and didn’t recuse herself from multiple copyright cases involving the publisher—with rulings that sided in favor of Random House and saved them mountains of $$—even though Justice Breyer did recuse himself while getting paid far less by the same publisher. Given the breathless coverage over contrived controversies involving Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, it’s great to see solid conservative reporting punching back and giving the left a taste of its own medicine,” Charlie Kirk, a host of a conservative podcast, stated on Twitter.
“Sonia Sotomayor received over $3 million for her books from Penguin Random House publishing and then didn’t recuse herself from a case in which they were involved before SCOTUS where the company stood to lose money. What did Clarence Thomas do again?” Greg Price said.
“WOW – Justice Sotomayor took $3M from Random House and voted on a key decision where the publisher stood to lose money, even as similarly-positioned colleague recused. Wait until Politico hears about this,” Speaking about the website that first reported the Justice Thomas scandal, Matt Whitlock remarked.
Justice Sotomayor is defended by liberal activist Ed Krassenstein, who also discusses Justice Neil Gorsuch’s connections to the same publisher in his article.
“The allegations against Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow are definitely not the same as the attacks being made on Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Yes, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor did write a book and she published it through Penguin Random House, as did Justice Gorsuch. Yes, she did make a fortune,” the activist said.
“No, she did not recuse herself from cases involving the publisher. Neither did Gorsuch. Yes, this information was declared. No, there is no rule saying that a judge must recuse themselves from unrelated cases involving a publisher they used. Some judges have recused themselves in these situations, while others have not,” he said.
“This is not the same as receiving money from a large political donor and then hiding it by not declaring it, like Thomas allegedly did. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this comparison being made mostly by the right,” he said.
Penguin Random House is not the same as Crow. Although there is no evidence that Crow appeared before the court, Penguin Random House did. It was noted and agreed upon that this distinction was significant.
