The Controversial Gifts and Payments Surrounding Clarence Thomas

Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo urged GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to arrange a payment of $25,000 to Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in January 2012. Leo emphasized that there be "no mention of Ginni" Thomas in the paperwork. The payment was made through Conway's Polling Company to the Judicial Education Project, which later submitted an amicus brief in a case before the Supreme Court. Leo said that Thomas's work in this case "did not involve anything" related to the Supreme Court's business. Justice Thomas has recently come under intense scrutiny following several reports about his relationship with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.