Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel is currently famous for two reasons. First, he’s partially responsible for the dissolution of Gawker Media and its flagship website, Gawker.com. And second? He happens to be a gay Libertarian who supports Republican nominee Donald Trump’s bid for the White House. As of this morning, however, Thiel’s name is now famous for a third reason — one with important connections to his vocal (and financial) support of Trump, and former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s still-vacant seat.
Yes, that’s right. Thiel is Trump’s top choice for the ninth seat on the Supreme Court of the United States if the general election goes his way. Or at least that’s according to Thiel himself, whose private boasting was relayed to the Huffington Post by two anonymous sources — one with “close to the PayPal co-founder” who claims “Thiel has told friends” all about the Donald’s intention to nominate him, and another “close to Trump” who suggests the Republican nominee “deeply loves Peter Thiel” and often talks about the potential nomination.
Then again, that second source “has not spoken to Trump directly about Thiel being nominated to the court,” and reminded the Huffington Post that “Trump’s offers often fail to materialize in real life.” As for an official comment from either Trump or Thiel themselves, no such thing has happened yet. However, Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks told the outlet in no uncertain terms, “There is absolutely no truth to this whatsoever.” Thiel’s own official spokeperson, Jeremiah Hall, reiterated his counterpart’s sentiment: “Peter hasn’t had any conversations about a Supreme Court nomination and has no interest in the job.”
Venture capitalism and hedge-fund managing notwithstanding, Thiel graduated from Stanford Law School with a J.D. in 1992 and clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Yet his law career quickly transformed into derivatives trading, which earned him a great deal of money in the mid ’90s. So yes, Thiel would be the richest Supreme Court nominee in the branch’s history, and he does possess some law experience.
Some.
(Via Huffington Post)
