Liberty Central was a non-profit

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

political advocacy group founded in 2009 by

Virginia Thomas Virginia "Ginni" Thomas ( Lamp; born February 23, 1957) is an American attorney and conservative activist. In 1987, she married Clarence Thomas, who became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1991. Her conservative ...

, the wife of

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Associate Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...

, and

Leonard Leo Leonard A. Leo (born 1965) is an American lawyer and conservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society and is currently, along with Steven G. Calabresi, the co-chairman of the organization's board of direc ...

. Virginia Thomas was the president and CEO. The group ceased operations in 2012.

Mission

Its declared purpose was stated on its website as "America's Public Square. We Listen. We Inspire. We Activate ... to secure the blessings of liberty." The organization was promoted at the 2010

Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU). ...

as "an online community for those seeking to "preserve freedom and reaffirm the core founding principles."

Ed Morrissey Edward Morrissey (born April 3, 1963) is an American conservative blogger, columnist, motivational speaker, and talk show host.Ed Morrissey Premiere Motivational Speakers. Published 2008. Accessed May 2, 2009. He goes by the nickname Captain Ed a ...

, a prominent conservative blogger who runs

Hotair.com ''Hot Air'' is a conservative American political blog. It is written by the pseudonymous Allahpundit, Ed Morrissey, John Sexton, and Jazz Shaw. Hot Air was founded by Michelle Malkin, a conservative author and blogger, in 2006, taking over '' ...

, said the Liberty Central site would provide education in history and the Constitution for tea party activists.

Funding

The group was founded with

seed money Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' ...

of $550,000 coming from two donors whose names were undisclosed. In a February 2011 article, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'' reported that the initial $500,000 contribution came from Dallas real estate investor and conservative philanthropist

Harlan Crow Harlan Rogers Crow (born 1949) is an American real estate developer from Dallas, Texas. Early life Harlan Crow was born in Dallas, the third son of Margaret Doggett Crow and real estate developer Trammell Crow. He has four brothers and one siste ...

Activities

Liberty Central activities have included hosting a live web cast on October 20, 2010, in conjunction with the

Family Research Council The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against: access to pornography, emb ...

to protest the January 2011 expiration of tax cuts that were passed in 2001 and 2003. According to

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

, the Liberty Central group has been highly critical of U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

Criticism

Thomas has been criticized for her involvement in Liberty Central because someone who contributes to the group may have a case before the Supreme Court. However, there is no law limiting what Thomas can do, and according to some legal experts Supreme Court Justices are not required to

recuse Judicial disqualification, also referred to as recusal, is the act of abstaining from participation in an official action such as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court official or administrative officer. Applica ...

themselves from cases where they may have a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

. On October 21, 2010, Thomas was specifically criticized for taking a position, via Liberty Central, on an issue that was likely to come before the Supreme Court - whether the 2010 health care legislation was unconstitutional. A memo signed by Thomas that called for the repeal of the law and that was posted on the Liberty Central website was removed following the criticism. A Liberty Central spokesperson explained that Thomas had not personally reviewed the memo and that it been mistakenly approved by a staff member, and had been circulated by another group, the Conservative Action Project.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty Central Organizations established in 2009 Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Political organizations based in the United States Tea Party movement 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations Conservative organizations in the United States