Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
As long as Republicans hold any amount of power, they will abuse it to protect their own no matter how corrupt, unethical, or illegal the actions. They know that if they break lockstep even a little bit, their unpopular authoritarian pyramid scheme will crumble.
"We investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing."
The Eleventh Commandment was a phrase used by President of the United States Ronald Reagan during his 1966 campaign for Governor of California. The Commandment reads:
Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.
The Ken Paxton thing is especially telling. He was impeached by Republicans, but the second the impeachment started generating national coverage, they backed off and said it was fine.
ken paxton is a slimy little cunt that shouldn’t be underestimated. i have no doubt behind closed doors he pulled every dirty trick in the book. this is the kind of person that finds and keeps dirt on anyone that might try to destroy him.
and when you have 2/3 the politicians in your pocket, it’s easy to strong arm enough of the other 1/3 to stfu and keep their heads down.
it wasn’t like republicans saw the limelight was on the case and decided to play nice. quite the opposite. the reps that started this whole fight are establishment republicans trying to get their party in the people’s good graces enough to save their fucking party in 2024.
the dumbass think tanks don’t get that (or rather, think they can work with that) and have been performing actions that add nail after nail into their coffin.
I mean, let's be honest here - none of the gifts, favors, or special treatment Thomas has received has changed his decisions. He was always going to pick the most reactionary, oligarch-friendly position. No one has ever said, "The court looks pretty split on this issue, and Clarence Thomas may be the deciding vote."
If you're going to bribe a Justice or try to sway the Court, you pick a moderate. You don't pay the Kool-Aid Man to charge through walls, it's just what he does.