MAYER: You know, I look at it, and like you, I say, you know, people - all kinds of things happen to people as they grow up, and, you know, you try to - try not to be too judgmental about people - at least I try not to be. We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. They find a few random items, like shoes and some clothes, and the precious gold bars are tucked away at the bottom of the box. As the Supreme Court takes on all of these really important political issues in front of the country, the interests and the outside groups are filing amicus briefs in order to sort of put their thumb on the scale of justice and push on one side or another. Chief Justice John Roberts - when he joined the court, his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, gave up her law career in order to not pose any kind of conflicts. A persons mental health can go awry in such circumstances. And they brought this list to the White House and delivered it to Trump and said that basically these people need to be fired. She's a director of a group called C.N.P. This starts the ugly string of violence and murders. This event makes them waver from their main duties, and greed drives them to do bad things. 1936New York City. Ginni Thomas has described it as like going through a fiery furnace. It's another kind of form of dark money spending. You can see from its sort of incorporation papers, it's just a little place. And there's the second rule. The two . She gave that up in order not to have - you know, pose these kinds of conflicts and create these problems. Are there financial disclosures required of Supreme Court justices? You want to explain who he is? Based on the Flannan Isle mystery. The Hotel itself was colloquially known to have "insanity within its walls," with guests ranging from drug . He was advocating publicly for that ban, and, privately, he was part of a group that submitted an amicus brief in front of the court when that ban was being considered by the Supreme Court. Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add . This discovery is the source of all the conflicts and troubles between the guards and quickly turns the film into a psychological thriller. And he said that his parents were actually Goldwater Republicans. Kathy Ambush is Clarence Thomas's first wife and the mother of his one and only son. DAVIES: I mentioned in my introduction that you wrote that Ginni Thomas has said that the country faces existential danger from the deep state and fascist left. However, mistrust between the three men leads them down a dark path. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're speaking with New Yorker, staff writer and chief Washington correspondent Jane Mayer. Judicial Conference, applies to lower court judges, but at least technically, does not apply to Supreme Court Justices. 5/5. Though the justices generally try to conform to the code, compliance is not mandatory, and to date the high court has resisted establishing its own code of conduct. MAYER: Well, she grew up in a kind of upper-middle-class family in Omaha, Neb. Lets find out. And a lot of these briefs are actually filed by groups where you can't see who's funding them. DAVIES: I thought before we talk about Ginni Thomas' specific activities, we might talk a bit about what rules or standards should apply to this. Her latest article in the magazine is titled "Is Ginni Thomas A Threat To The Supreme Court? What happened to experienced island men Donald MacArthur, James Ducat and Thomas Marshall on the lonely island of Eileen Mor? Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) January 11, 2021. DAVIES: She meets Clarence Thomas. Thomas did not kill James per se but rather accepted his decision to lay down his life. DAVIES: Now, you cite many circumstances in which conservative groups or individuals that Ginni Thomas has some association with have filed amicus briefs before the court that her husband sits on. The bars of gold are not exactly shown in the scene, and nobody knows what Thomas did with them. Only the remaining keepers get on the boat, while Jed stays in the lighthouse. He could not bear the burden of the crimes he had committed. The film is a testament to human strength, both mental and physical. This causes Thomas and Donald to breathe a sigh of relief, and they hope for a happy ending to this debacle. She was earning a decent chunk of change from Frank Gaffney in 2017 and 2018 from his nonprofit. And then, of course, it raised tons of eyebrows again because of Ginni Thomas. We also see Thomas lighting three candles in the chapel while reciting three . Netflix describes the plot as: When their daughter disappears during a family vacation, two terrified parents launch their own investigation that soon exposes local secrets. New Yorker writer Jane Mayer discusses the conservative beliefs and influence of Ginni Thomas, an activist who's been associated with some groups involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The Vanishing Triangle was a term coined by the media to refer to several disappearances of women in Ireland in the mid to late 1990s. The groundskeeper is on drugs. Near the end, James locks Thomas in a room and begins to choke Donald. But now we have this movement of money from an active pro-Trump group to a private advocacy organization, to Ginni Thomas' one-person lobbying firm while this case is before the court. Should these payments have appeared on that disclosure? What do the legal scholars you talked to think about this position of Roberts? Understanding Jamess pain and agony, Thomas agrees to his dying wish and holds his head underwater. And what it's doing is undermining respect for the Supreme Court. And as you say, given Clarence Thomas' record and his point of view, he might very well have upheld that Muslim ban anyway. DAVIES: So when Justice Thomas ascended to the high court, where did Ginni Thomas' professional life go? Action where one of the group's positions was that every week, they were told that their members needed to denounce the Southern Poverty Law Center online every single week, to come up with something to say that would denigrate this organization. This also enables him to devote 25 years to manning the lighthouse. Wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas texted Trump chief about overturning 2020 election. It's a very martial and aggressive kind of tone she takes - somewhat paranoid, I would say. The story of how a 150-year old house on an island off the Irish coast simply vanished has become the subject of international fascination, as the owner turned to the courts to find . Additionally, we believe the lighthouse remained unmanned after the keepers abandoned their posts. The death of their children is also mentioned in passing, with no concrete answer or explanation given. Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Scarlett Pomers are just two examples of child stars who rose to fame at a young age, only to disappear from the public eye and keep their lives private. Dec. 6, 1926. He was a simple man who worked hard and provided for his family. When he sees the face of the boy, he is immediately reminded of his own son, and his sanity takes an ugly turn. And the reason is there's a feeling that it's becoming just another - you know, the justices are just politicians in robes. We also see Thomas lighting three candles in the chapel while reciting three names Jessica, Freya and Cathy. You know, there's a certain amount of sort of gray area in there. And there you've got the wife of a Supreme Court justice basically receiving these funds that are one step removed from Trump backers while her husband is sitting in judgment of Trump's policies. So I think he - you know, he probably doesn't want anybody interfering with the way that he runs the court. And he said, absolutely. Christie was 36 at the time and had already published several detective novels, including "The Secret Adversary" and "The Murder on the Links.". Thomas is seen secretly opening the safe in the middle of the night as he asked the others not to open it. The movies climax shows no indication of the condition of the lighthouse after the keepers sailed away. And apparently - I heard from somebody who was there who said that he talked to Trump about Ginni Thomas and that basically, Trump actually genuinely liked Clarence Thomas. But things look up when James comes back to them and seems to be himself again. "The Vanishing" has a clear answer to the rhetorical question once asked by "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" ("Who will survive and what will be left of them?") Well, no one, and very little. I interviewed someone who is in one of these groups with her who said, basically - first of all, he said that he didn't want to speak on the record because he described Ginni Thomas as "volatile," quote, unquote, and said that the best way to describe her, he thought, was tribal. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Roberta Shorrock, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Ann Marie Baldonado, Seth Kelley and Kayla Lattimore. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. But things get better when James returns to them and seems like himself again. He said it just makes a complete mockery of the idea that there's fairness on the Supreme Court, and he finds it incredibly disturbing. MAYER: Well, it was so great to be with you. He was confirmed. He decides he cant take it anymore and wants to kill himself. Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Scarlett Pomers are just two examples of child stars who rose to fame at a young age, only to disappear from the public eye and keep their lives private. Towards the end, Thomas sits and cries in the chapel, asking for spiritual forgiveness as he thinks he left his wife to die. Eventually, Thomas and James venture into the sea with their precious gold and Donalds corpse. MAYER: So she apparently felt quite stuck and stymied by the fact that he went on the Supreme Court. The keepers realize it must be something precious as the man who had the chest was ready to kill Donald over it. Lam had left . When James tells Donald that Thomas' wife died, he expresses his condolences and even asks Thomas what happened. SPOILERS AHEAD! And one of the people I interviewed is the journalist Kurt Andersen, who grew up exactly across the street from the Lamp family. And that is more than half the country at this point. And what's interesting, according to some of the people that I interviewed who study these things, is that they have influenced these amicus briefs, because there is a study that shows that, increasingly, the justices are quoting from them in their opinions. And she had given an award to somebody named Kimberly Fletcher, who runs Moms for America, which also was involved in the protests. MAYER: Well, by all accounts, it was a very awkward and uncomfortable meeting. Mayer also talks to legal scholars who raise concerns about Ginni Thomas' activities. It has been reported from numerous sources that Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sponsored 80 busloads of . But nobody could see this at the time. But what about judges? The most recent Gallup poll showed that it had hit historic lows in terms of Americans' respect for the court. They plan on how they each can get a share of the gold without getting caught. This begins the nasty series of beatings and murders. Little did Thomas and Jackie know that this unemployed, former childhood actor and dishonorably discharged Marine had another devious plan in mind: To lure the couple out to sea, force them to sign away their life . DAVIES: When this briefing occurred on policy and personnel issues with Ginni Thomas and Frank Gaffney, what do we know about the meeting? And they, during the Trump administration, played a really unusual role and, I think, one that raised a lot of eyebrows even inside the Trump White House, which was that they compiled a list of people that they claimed were disloyal members of the so-called deep state who were, they thought, not going along enough with Trump. For Terry Gross, I'm Dave Davies. They were - he looks at them as kind of the beginning of the modern, crazy right wing. But even they thought the Lamps were - what he said was crazy. I mean, for the most part, the justices, as I said, self-enforce and self-disclose. She describes herself as the chairman of Groundswell. Such goes the true story of the Flannan Isle Mystery, about three lighthouse keepers who disappeared from a Scottish isle . It's a nonpartisan group. MAYER: So amicus briefs are so-called friend-of-the-court briefs. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. DAVIES: And we should just note that the group which provided this money to Gaffney's organization, which is headed by Rebekah Mercer, is called Making America Great or Make America Great, right? So basically, anybody who wants to give money to a Supreme Court justice could pay the spouse as a client, and nobody would know in the public. Following the events on the island, James resolves to end his life because he cant live, haunted by the lies and the secrecy. It shows what the human mind is capable of when faced with deadly trauma and physical violence. He isolates himself in a small chapel on the island as the guilt of killing men engulfs him. DAVIES: OK. The Vanished puts a lot on the various plates of its potential suspects. Read More: 10 Overlooked Thriller Movies From the 1990s That You Must See. It reveals how their lives turn upside down when a mysterious wooden chest washes up on shore along with a presumably dead man. purchase. So we have a case here not simply of ideological alignment. Underbelly: Vanishing Act screens on April 3-4 on Nine at 8.45pm. So, Jane Mayer, one of the things you write about is that Ginni Thomas often has connections to people or organizations that would file amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases. What we know is that for months, Ginni Thomas had been trying to get into the White House to have the meeting with President Trump. He also apparently entertained the thought for a while that he might be able to sort of court Clarence Thomas into retiring and then get yet another seat open, where he could appoint someone he wanted to the Supreme Court. DAVIES: We are speaking with Jane Mayer. She talks about how important it is to be able to have guns, and she says, you know, I hope we all have them, and I hope we'll all be able to carry concealed weapons soon. Does she hire other lobbyists? And she uses that word kill twice. The radio at the tower was also not functioning despite their efforts to get it running. So it was a really strange meeting. The amended forms disclosed that over that over four year period, the conservative Heritage Foundation had paid his wife $680,000. "What's harming the court is not his failure to disclose her income, but her vociferous advocacy," says NYU law professor Stephen Gillers, author of a leading textbook on legal ethics. It also allows him to devote 25 years to the maintenance of the lighthouse. When James and Thomas make their way onto the boat to sail away, Jed is nowhere to be seen. We are speaking with Jane Mayer. (SOUNDBITE OF AMY RIGBY SONG, "PLAYING PITTSBURGH"). When James tells Donald that Thomas wife died, he expresses his condolences and even asks Thomas what happened. Being a secretive person, Thomas evades the question, leaving the viewers puzzled. Where does that come from? But it's the aura, again, that we get back to here, which is the image problem, the appearance of a conflict of interest that undermines the public confidence that the court is ruling in favor of justice rather than in favor of a justice's pocketbook.

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