Washington, D.C. – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) sent a letter to the Judicial Conference, calling on this committee of federal judges to immediately release the Report of the Proceedings from their September 12, 2023 meeting – something they have thus far failed to do.  

This report should include the Financial Disclosure Committee’s response to multiple requests, from last April and August, for the Judicial Conference to refer to the U.S. Attorney General evidence that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose substantial gifts received over 20 years.  

The Judicial Conference has the authority to refer the Justice Thomas matter to the U.S. Attorney General, in what appears to be violations of the Ethics in Government Act by Justice Thomas that could potentially lead to civil and criminal penalties. 

Kedric Payne, Vice President, General Counsel and Senior Director for Ethics at Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and former Deputy Chief Counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics, issued the following statement: 

“The public has a right to know that every Justice serving on the Supreme Court is doing so in the interests of all, and not on behalf of just wealthy special interests. The Judicial Conference must make recent proceedings from its Financial Disclosure Committee public so that we know how this enforcement body will respond to Justice Thomas’s failure to comply with federal disclosure laws for over two decades.”
 

The Financial Disclosure Committee was expected to address the issue of Justice Thomas’s undisclosed gifts at their bi-annual meeting in September 2023, in response to CLC’s April requests for the Judicial Conference to enforce the disclosure requirements. But the meeting minutes that are usually disclosed within two-months of a meeting have been inexplicably delayed– which is concerning given that ethical woes among Supreme Court justices have captured national attention.  

At a time when public faith in the nation’s highest court is at an all-time low, the Judicial Conference needs to act swiftly to release information on what their next steps regarding Justice Thomas’s ethics violations will be. Otherwise, wrongdoing by Supreme Court Justices risks being further normalized at the expense of transparency around who is shaping justices’ legal decision making – which would be to the detriment of our democracy.  

Madison, WI — In a momentous victory for Wisconsin voters, today the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s noncontiguous legislative maps as unconstitutional.  

“Democracy won today in Wisconsin — and all Wisconsin voters will benefit,” said Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at Campaign Legal Center and a native Wisconsinite, “Fair maps are the backbone of a healthy, responsive government. But for more than a decade, Wisconsin voters suffered under unfair and unconstitutional maps that denied them an equal voice in their state government. All Wisconsinites — no matter where they live in the state — deserve maps that give them a fair shot to elect leaders who will best serve their community, and today’s decision makes that a reality.”    

On August 2, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center (CLC) partnered with Law Forward, the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, and Arnold & Porter to file a lawsuit on behalf of individual voters who had their voices silenced by the unconstitutional state legislative maps. 

Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the maps violate a provision of the state constitution requiring state legislative districts to be contiguous or, in other words, all parts of a district must be physically touching with no detached territory. 75 of Wisconsin’s 132 state legislative districts contain noncontiguous territory, and over two-thirds of Wisconsinites are living in either an unconstitutionally noncontiguous assembly or senate district.  

The state legislature will have the opportunity to craft new maps that comply with the ruling. In order to have maps in time for the 2024 election, the court will move forward and accept proposals from the parties unless the legislature passes a new map. The court appointed Drs. Bernard Grofman and Jonathan Cervas to evaluate the parties' proposals and prepare maps, if necessary.

Thirteen years ago, Wisconsin lawmakers, behind closed doors and in defiance of the state constitution, drew new district lines that essentially guaranteed one-party GOP control of the legislature. In 2021 the Legislature’s proposed districts, which were ultimately adopted, increased the partisan skew of the 2011 maps and perpetuated blatantly noncontiguous legislative districts. Today’s decision provides Wisconsin voters with the opportunity to vote under fair maps. 

More details about the lawsuit can be found here.