CONFIRMED BY SCOTUS: DONOFRIO V. WELLS WAS DISTRIBUTED FOR CONFERENCE OF DECEMBER 5, 2008 BY THE FULL UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

[UPDATE] Leo Donofrio and Cort Wrotnowski will be on Plains Radio tonight at 7:00 PM EST

CONFIRMED BY SCOTUS: DONOFRIO V. WELLS WAS DISTRIBUTED FOR CONFERENCE OF DECEMBER 5, 2008 BY THE FULL UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AFTER FIRST HAVING BEEN REFERRED TO THE COURT BY JUSTICE THOMAS

by Bob Vernon, Honest American News – Plains Radio Network

December 1, 2008

On November 19, 2008, the official United States Supreme Court Docket for case number 08A407 – Leo C. Donofrio v. Nina Mitchell Wells, Secretary of State of the State of New Jersey – was updated to show that the “emergency stay application” to halt the national election and Electoral College meeting of 2008… was “DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 5, 2008.”  At that time, it was not clear whether this was scheduled for conference by Justice Thomas alone or by the full Court.

In multiple interviews with Leo C. Donofrio, this reporter and other members of the Plains Radio Network, were informed by Mr. Donofrio that he suspected the distribution for conference was an action taken by more than Justice Thomas alone.  Mr. Donofrio suggested that another docket update stating the emergency application was referred to the full court by Justice Thomas should have appeared on the docket prior to the distribution for conference.

Since the docket did not reflect a prior referral it was widely accepted that the distribution for conference was an act of Justice Thomas alone. Honest American News can now confirm – by direct contact with the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office – that the distribution for conference of DONOFRIO V. WELLS was an action taken by the full court.

On November 28, 2008, the docket for case number 08A407 was updated to show, retroactively, that Justice Clarence Thomas did in fact refer Donofrio’s emergency stay application to the full court on November 19, 2008.  Last night in an interview with…Plains Radio Network, Mr. Donofrio suggested that this new update, nine days later, indicated that the full Court had taken action to distribute the case for conference.  Mr. Donofrio cited a SCOTUS public information document issued to reporters entitled:

A REPORTER’S GUIDE TO APPLICATIONS Pending Before The Supreme Court of the United States

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/reportersguide.pdf

In that document, on page 3, it advises:

“The Circuit Justice may act on an application alone or refer it to the full Court for consideration. The fact that an application has been referred to the full Court may not be known publicly until the Court acts on the application and the referral is noted in the Court’s order.”

Mr. Donofrio pointed out in various interviews that since his case had been made public by the SCOTUS, there was probably a referral by Justice Thomas prior to the actual distribution for conference.  Mr. Donofrio was correct.

Today I spoke with Patricia McCabe Estrada, Deputy Director of Public Information at the United States Supreme Court.  She informed me that Mr. Donofrio’s application was first referred to the full Court by Justice Clarence Thomas on November 19, 2008.  After that referral took place the full Court, and not Justice Thomas alone, distributed the application for an emergency stay for Conference of December 5, 2008.

Let me reiterate the main point: DONOFRIO V. WELLS was distributed for conference of December 5, 2008 by the full Court after a prior referral of the application by Justice Thomas.

Mr. Donofrio will be on the Plains Radio Network tonight.  See Plainsradio.com for details.

Bob Vernon
Honest American News
Plains Radio Network
State: Texas