She's the Princess on Alito's Disclosure Form

The New York Times has gotten to the bottom of an unusual item on the most recent financial disclosure form of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. It read: "Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. Concert tickets. $900." Alito, however, declined to shed light when asked by reporters about it. As it turns out, the benefactor is an actual princess with a colorful past. "Princess Gloria, 64, who burst onto the international scene in the 1980s in jeweled tiaras and a multicolored mohawk, has since evolved into a conservative Catholic with ties to the European far right," per the Times. She hosted the Alitos at her palace in Regensburg, Germany, for her annual musical festival in the summer of 2023. The pair had met at a Catholic conference in Rome several years ago.

"I met him as a Catholic, and I realized that he's a judge who is pro-life," the princess—a native German whose husband died in 1990—tells the Times in an interview. "So for me, that was a great thing, because very few people I know are pro-life." Alito wasn't required to list his stay at her palace on his disclosure form because the meals and lodging would qualify as personal hospitality. The story comes amid the backdrop of criticism of both Alito and Clarence Thomas over financial disclosures. The princess, for her part, also is friends with Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon and would like to meet another justice in particular when she's next in the US. "Justice Thomas," she says. "Because he looks so nice." (Read the full story.)