Payment: Clarence Thomas’s Clerk, Rajan Vasisht, Took Bribes From Lawyers Who Had Cases Before the Supreme Court Using Venmo

Lawyers with supreme court business paid Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo

Several lawyers who have had business before the supreme court, including one who successfully argued to end race-conscious admissions at universities, paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions. The payments appear to have been made in connection to Thomas’s 2019 Christmas party.

The payments to Rajan Vasisht, who served as Thomas’s aide from July 2019 to July 2021, seem to underscore the close ties between Thomas, who is embroiled in ethics scandals following a series of revelations about his relationship with a wealthy billionaire donor, and certain senior Washington lawyers who argue cases and have other business in front of the justice.

Vasisht’s Venmo account – which was public prior to requesting comment for this article and is no longer – show that he received seven payments in November and December 2019 from lawyers who previously served as Thomas legal clerks. The amount of the payments is not disclosed, but the purpose of each payment is listed as either “Christmas party”, “Thomas Christmas Party”, “CT Christmas Party” or “CT Xmas party”, in an apparent reference to the justice’s initials.

However, it remains unclear what the funds were for.

Strawbridge is only one of seven lawyers that appeared on Vasisht’s public Venmo feed—the other six include Kate Todd, Elbert Lin, Brian Schmalzbach, Manuel Valle, Liam Hardy, and the late Will Consovoy. The amount of each payment has not been revealed, but the transactions have Christmas-themed captions such as “Thomas Christmas Party” or “CT Christmas Party,” referencing Thomas’ initials, per the Guardian.

The Guardian reports that the aide, Rajan Vasisht, served Thomas from July 2019 to July 2021 and received at least seven payments from lawyers via Venmo during November and December 2019. One of the lawyers in question is Patrick Strawbridge, a partner at Consovoy-McCarthy Park PPLC with ties to the ultra-conservative Federalist Society. Strawbridge recently argued against affirmative action in a Supreme Court case brought against the University of North Carolina. Vasisht’s Venmo account was apparently public prior to The Guardian requesting comment from the former aide. Vashist and the Supreme Court did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the payments.

The revelation of the payments comes as Thomas faces repeated scrutiny for accepting gifts and donations from conservative benefactors, as the New York Times described in detail. Specifically, in April, news broke that Thomas had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel from Harlan Crow, a wealthy Dallas real estate developer and Nazi memorabilia collector. Crow gifted Thomas flights on his private jet and trips to his yacht, complete with a private chef, while also paying for private school tuition for Thomas’ adoptive son.