Liberty Consulting is a conservative consulting firm led by Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. 1 The company has done work for conservative-leaning groups such as the Center for Security Policy and FedUP PAC. 2
Democrats have alleged its improper for a justice’s wife to be involved in politics. Virginia Thomas says she has received ethics guidance. 3
Background
Liberty Consulting is a conservative activist political consulting firm led by Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. 1
The firm is reportedly located in a strip mall in suburban Virginia. 2
Liberty Consulting is listed as an asset on Justice Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court disclosures. Its cash market value was listed as $15,000 on Justice Thomas’s 2014 financial disclosure form, but details about the firm were not listed in other years. 2
Virginia Thomas has said on her LinkedIn page that she became the founder and president of Liberty Consulting in 2010 and that she works with “citizen activists, leaders and nonprofits to succeed and have impact in defending the principles that have made America an exceptional nation — offer strategic advice, build coalitions, connect people and projects (this is my passion and joy!).” 2
A Virginia state record shows that Liberty Consulting was once called Liberty Lobby. 2 However, Virginia Thomas said she has not been paid to lobby or influence legislation since she was a lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s. 3
Ginni Thomas previously ran a nonprofit known as Liberty Central during the Obama administration, an organization she had said she wanted to be “bigger than the tea party.” In 2010, she earned $120,000 as president of Liberty Central. The nonprofit has since closed. 2
Ginni Thomas said she received ethics guidance from U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Laurence Silberman that it was acceptable to be involved in politics if she did not take positions on issues before the U.S. Supreme Court. 3
Of her and her husband, she said: “We have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work. ”3
Funding
Liberty Consulting collected roughly $600,000 in anonymous donations over three years, the Washington Post reported in March 2023. 1
The Center for Security Policy has been a client and paid Liberty Consulting more than $200,000 from 2017 through 2018. 2
The political action committee FedUP PAC has been a client and paid $5,000 to Liberty Consulting during the 2018 election cycle. 2
The Washington Post reported that in 2012 Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo instructed Kellyanne Conway’s firm, the Polling Company, to bill $25,000 to a nonprofit that he advises called the Judicial Education Project, and then use the money to pay Liberty Consulting. Further, the Post claimed the passthrough was to keep Virginia Thomas’s name off record. After subsequent payment, the Post reported the Polling Company paid $80,000 to Liberty Consulting. Critics of Justice Clarence Thomas noted that Leo’s Judicial Education Project filed a friend of the court brief in the case of Shelby County v. Holder before the Supreme Court in 2013, a case Thomas helped decide. 4 5
Liberty Consulting began receiving payments from Conway’s Polling Company in 2011, the Post said, adding that documents it reviewed show that Virginia Thomas contacted the Polling Company to discuss her payments. 4
References
- Boburg, Shawn and Brown, Emma. “Activist group led by Ginni Thomas received nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations.” Washington Post. March 28, 2023. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/03/28/ginni-thomas-crowdsourcers-anonymous-donations/
- Schwartz, Brian. “Inside the consulting firm run by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.” CNBC. April 5, 2022. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/05/inside-the-consulting-firm-run-by-ginni-thomas-wife-of-supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas.html
- Daley, Kevin. “EXCLUSIVE: Ginni Thomas Wants To Set the Record Straight on January 6.” Washington Free Beacon. March 14, 2022. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://freebeacon.com/courts/exclusive-ginni-thomas-sets-the-record-straight-on-january-6/
- Boburg, Shawn and Brown, Emma. “Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni’” Washington Post. May 4, 2023. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/05/04/leonard-leo-clarence-ginni-thomas-conway/
- Levin, Bess. “Oops: Ginni Thomas’s Firm Also Received Cash Payments From a Conservative With Business Before the Supreme Court.” Vanity Fair. May 5, 2023. Accessed April 25, 2024. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/05/ginni-thomas-leonard-leo-payments