PanamaTimes

Sunday, Jul 06, 2025

The attorney featured in the painting that shows Clarence Thomas at one of the undisclosed vacations just published an article arguing that the Supreme Court justice did not have to report the trips

The attorney featured in the painting that shows Clarence Thomas at one of the undisclosed vacations just published an article arguing that the Supreme Court justice did not have to report the trips

Mark Paoletta, attorney and friend of Clarence Thomas, argued that recent rule changes show why the justice did not have disclose the trips.

An attorney who is featured in a now-popular painting of Clarence Thomas vacationing at a GOP megadonor's exclusive resort argued that the justice was not legally obligated to disclose any of these trips.

Mark Paoletta, a partner at Schaeer Jaffe and close friend of Thomas, wrote in the right-leaning National Review article published Thursday arguing that Thomas had "acted properly and consistent with the rules" of financial disclosures for Supreme Court Justices. The column was in response to an investigative story from ProPublica which revealed how Thomas had, for years, accepted stays at a luxury resort in upstate New York and chartered flights in private jets — all at the expense of his longtime friend and Republican donor, Harlan Crow.

"This latest effort by the Left has nothing to do with 'ethics.' It has everything to do with trying to destroy the Supreme Court now that there is a working majority of justices moving the Court firmly in an originalist direction," Paoletta wrote, calling the ProPublica story a "hit piece."

Paoletta discloses in the article that he was Thomas's lawyer during the justice's confirmation in 1991, co-edited a book with him, and "remain close friends."

But the attorney is also featured in a painting that was commissioned by Crow and depicts Thomas vacationing at the luxury resort that is central to the renewed scrutiny of Thomas' financial disclosure forms.


 The painting features Thomas smoking a cigar at Camp Topridge, where the artwork also hangs, next to Crow on the far right, according to ProPublica. There are also lawyers Peter Rutledge, Leonard Leo, and, sitting above and in the center of everyone, Paoletta.


Sharif Tarabay, the artist of the painting, told ProPublica that the piece depicts a moment at Topridge from about five years ago. The publication reported that Thomas vacationed at the remote resort almost every summer for more than two decades.

Paoletta did not respond to a request for comment.

Legal experts said Thomas may have violated a law that dictates how judicial officers and employers must report gifts in their financial disclosure forms. Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law professor, told Insider that the recent string of allegations against Thomas, including a Bloomberg report that revealed that the justice did not recuse himself from an appeals case involving the Crow family business, points to the larger issue of the lack of proper mechanisms to enforce laws that are supposed to hold courts accountable.

In his defense, Paoletta claimed however that recent rule changes regardings gifts that were adopted in March by the Judicial Conference of the United States vindicate Thomas.

Prior to the changes, rules around travel that are considered "personal hospitality" were not explicitly defined, The New York Times reported. The financial disclosure committee of the Judicial Conference added more stipulations last month to include what kinds of gifts need to be disclosed, including travel by private jet and stays at resorts or hotels.

Paoletta's argument appears to hinge on the idea that the lack of clarity around gift disclosures means Thomas "correctly interpreted the rule."

As one of two of his "pieces of evidence," Paoletta cited an exchange between Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and the Senate Judiciary Committee witness, Kedric Payne, who is the general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center.

Payne said that a justice could "try to" rely on an exemption to disclose personal hospitality gifts because the rules around it are not made clear by the courts.

"Senator Whitehouse and Kedric Payne do not like the way this rule was implemented. But that is immaterial to the conclusion that Justice Thomas had no obligation to disclose these innocuous trips," Paoletta wrote. "The simple fact is that this was permissible."

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
×