Chuck Darwin<p>Samuel Alito accepted concert tickets from conservative German aristocrat </p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Samuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Samuel</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Alito" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alito</span></a>, the US supreme court justice, accepted $900 concert tickets from a Catholic German aristocrat known for her unabashed conservative views and ties to rightwing activists, his latest financial disclosure form reveals.</p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/Princess" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Princess</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gloria" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gloria</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/von" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>von</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thurn" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Thurn</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/und" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>und</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Taxis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Taxis</span></a> reportedly gifted the tickets to Alito and his wife to allow them to attend the Regensburg castle festival, <br>an annual summer music extravaganza hosted at her 500-room castle in Bavaria.</p><p>The princess, a descendant of princes of the Holy Roman empire, is noted for ties with <a href="https://c.im/tags/Steve" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Steve</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bannon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bannon</span></a>, a key supporter and former aide of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Donald" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Donald</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a>, and connections to figures in the Catholic hierarchy opposed to Pope Francis.</p><p>Her donation to Alito is set out in the justice’s annual financial disclosure report, which he filed late after requesting an extension.</p><p>The declaration follows a series of controversies over the ethics of supreme court justices amid revelations that some, including Alito himself and Justice <a href="https://c.im/tags/Clarence" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Clarence</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Thomas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Thomas</span></a>, have accepted gifts from wealthy benefactors without disclosing on mandatory forms.</p><p>Alito has been at the centre of reports that he accepted a private jet free travel gift for a luxury salmon fishing trip from a conservative billionaire who had cases pending before the supreme court.</p><p>He previously met von Thurn und Taxis along with fellow justice <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brett" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brett</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Kavanaugh" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kavanaugh</span></a> when she visited the supreme court in 2019 along with <a href="https://c.im/tags/Cardinal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Cardinal</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Gerhard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Gerhard</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ludwig" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ludwig</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/M%C3%BCller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Müller</span></a>, who was dismissed from his position as head of the Catholic’s church’s doctrinal body by Pope Francis, and <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brian</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Brown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Brown</span></a>, a leading anti-LGBTQ+ activist.</p><p>Von Thurn und Taxis’s palatial castle in Regensburg – the venue for the concert attended by Alito and his wife – has been mooted by Bannon as a potential venue for a 🔸European network of finishing schools for rightwing conservatives.<br>After her reinvention as a conservative Catholic activist, she drew criticism in 2001 after saying on a television talkshow that the high rate of Aids in Africa was due, not to a lack of safe sex, but because <br>“the Blacks like to copulate a lot”. <br>She later tried to amend her remarks, saying Africans had a lot of sex due to the continent’s hot climate.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/09/samuel-alito-supreme-court?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">theguardian.com/us-news/articl</span><span class="invisible">e/2024/sep/09/samuel-alito-supreme-court?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other</span></a></p>