Family Ties
Two of the most conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court have close family ties to George W. Bush's legal and political teams, raising questions of potential conflicts of interest.
The wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been gathering résumés for potential Bush administration job openings, according to a report in The New York Times.
Two sons of Justice Antonin Scalia, meanwhile, work for law firms that have been representing the Bush campaign in election cases — including the firm that argued the merits of Florida's ballot recount in front of the high court on Monday.
Scalia and Thomas voted with the majority on Tuesday as the high court reversed the Florida Supreme Court decision calling for new hand counts of undervotes in the presidential election, and remanded the decision back to the Sunshine State's top court.
One of Scalia's sons, John, accepted a position with the Miami-based firm Greenberg Traurig on Election Day, Nov. 7. Barry Richard, a partner in the firm, is the lead Bush attorney in Florida. Richard, who is a Democrat, said he was called Nov. 8 about representing Bush.
A second son, Eugene, is a partner in the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the firm representing Bush in the U.S. Supreme Court arguments. He is not involved in the case.
Thomas' wife, Virginia Lamp Thomas, works for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with close ties to the Republican Party. Earlier this month, she sent an e-mail to government oversight committees on Capitol Hill soliciting résumés "for transition purposes."
Thomas says she sees no conflict between her job and the fact that her husband is sitting in judgment on the case that could decide if Bush becomes the next president.
"There is no conflict here," she told The Times, insisting that she seldom discusses Supreme Court matters with her husband. Therefore, she said, there's no reason for him to consider recusing himself from the historic election case.
Ari Fleischer, a Bush spokesman, said he did not know if the Heritage Foundation was coordinating its efforts with the Bush transition team, but he acknowledged that the group regularly collected résumés during presidential transitions.
"Like many professional women, Mrs. Thomas should not be judged by her spouse," said Fleischer. "She should be judged on her own merits and qualifications."
The Gore team had no comment on the suggestions of conflicts of interest on the high court.
"The (ex-) vice president has the highest regard for the independent judiciary, so we're not going to comment on the questions that have been raised," said Gore spokesman Mark Fabiani.