The Associated Press obtained tens of thousands of pages of emails and other documents revealing the extent to which public colleges and universities have seen visits by justices as opportunities to generate donations
. A 2022 survey put trust in the court at a 50-year low, with just 18% expressing a great level of confidence.
But Supreme Court justices are asked only to adhere to what Chief Justice John Roberts, in a statement signed by all nine members of the court, referred to in April as a set of “ethics principles and practices.” The justices provide only a limited accounting of expenses-paid travel and sometimes neglect to disclose events altogether.
Beyond public institutions, the AP also contacted more than 100 private schools, organizations and charities where the justices spoke, but those institutions are not subject to public records laws and most declined to provide details. Before Sotomayor’s 2017 visit to Clemson, her staff advised a preference against donors at a luncheon. But the invitation list nonetheless included guests who had given millions of dollars to the school — some of them posed for photos with the justice — and internal discussions in emails show officials viewed the visit as an opportunity to generate money for a university humanities board.
Among the justices who are in demand, Thomas is very popular with conservatives. Officials at McLennan Community College saw him as having special appeal to a certain class of donors. Starr’s widow, Alice, defended the practice on the grounds that requests for donations were separate from the visit, though wealthy targets of the university’s fundraising efforts were invited.
The school ordered enough copies of Thomas’ 2007 memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” for each couple, plus hundreds more for a signing after Thomas’ lecture. A university spokesperson said in a statement that there were “no solicitations” connected to the event and that no gifts were made as a result of it.
Former Burger King CEO John Dasburg, a onetime university trustee, and his wife, Mary Lou, were among those included, school records show. The couple has collectively given about $600,000 to Republican candidates for federal office. That September, President Donald Trump nominated Mizelle to the federal bench, despite a rating of “not qualified” from an American Bar Association committee.
Baca, a former Colorado state legislator and Democratic National Committee official, solicited $15,000 in contributions from nonprofit groups, philanthropists, Democratic donors, law firms and corporations to help offset the $30,000 cost. Looking to reach the initiative’s $3.5 million endowment goal, Martha Heyburn, the judge’s widow and founder of the Heyburn Initiative, developed a fundraising document for potential donors that highlighted media coverage from an earlier appearance by Roberts and teased a forthcoming visit by Gorsuch.
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