The Verge: “Lawyers appearing before the Supreme Court sent money to a Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo, according to the aide’s profile. Don’t be like him… The most recent example of poor Venmo security comes from Rajan Vasisht, a former aide to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The Guardian tracked down Vasisht’s Venmo account and found several payments in 2019 from lawyers who had been Thomas’ legal clerks. The amount of the 2019 payments is unknown, but descriptions include “Thomas Christmas party,” “CT Christmas Party,” and “CT Xmas party.” The lawyers had gone on to work at high-profile law firms, and some of them had later argued cases before SCOTUS, including on issues like affirmative action.”…Legal experts told The Guardian that the payments are a red flag: Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W Bush administration and has been a vocal critic of the role of dark money in politics, said it was “not appropriate” for former Thomas law clerks who were established in private practice to – in effect – send money to the supreme court via Venmo.

There is no excuse for it. Thomas could invite them to his Christmas party and he could attend Christmas parties, as long as they are not discussing any cases. His Christmas party should not be paid for by lawyers,” Painter said. “A federal government employee collecting money from lawyers for any reason … I don’t see how that works.”