By Nikki Slusher
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is back in the spotlight this week for breaking the law…again. It was revealed this week that Thomas failed to properly disclose lavish gifts and luxury trips he received from one of the GOP’s most influential donors, Harlan Crow. The billionaire’s generous undisclosed gifts to Justice Thomas were revealed in the ProPublica report. ProPublica’s investigation alleges that Thomas accepted lavish vacations paid for by Mr. Crow annually spanning over two decades.
Mr. Crow is a real estate tycoon from Dallas, Texas, and the chairman of Crow Holdings. The group is the top investment and development firm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Currently he is also the leading donor to Republican and conservative efforts. The luxurious trips included traveling on private jets and super yachts.
Here is Justice Thomas’s full statement in response to the new allegations: “Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines. These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for the financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.”
With our current system of checks and balances, the Supreme Court justices largely police themselves but usually disclose any gift worth more than $415; “well below the cost of the trips Thomas accepted from Crow,” per the reporting by Axios. Thomas’s salary on the SCOTUS is $285,000 per year; yet ProPublica found that in 2019 the Thomas’s joined the Crow’s on a trip to Indonesia to go island hopping for nine days on a superyacht. That trip alone cost more than an estimated $500,000.
Justice Thomas may have claimed to always comply with disclosure guidelines, but that simply isn’t the truth. This isn’t his first rodeo failing to disclose massive amounts of money. Once upon a time Thomas failed to report $686,589 of his wife’s income she received from the Heritage Foundation from 2003-2007. The L.A. Times ended up reporting on the story in 2011 and found that the Justice marked the “none” box under the “spousal noninvestment income” section. The law explicitly requires federal judges to disclose their spouses’ income sources.
Personally I find Clarence Thomas’s statement humorous at how ridiculous it is. Am I really supposed to believe that a guy who has sat on the SCOTUS for decades — aka the highest court in the U.S. — who is entrusted to determine major legal issues for the entire country didn’t think he had to report gifted trips that costs millions? If that’s the truth then it’s even more of a reason why he needs to resign or be removed from the bench.
Unfortunately I don’t think an impeachment is likely. Not only is a SCOTUS justice Impeachment an extremely rare occurrence, but the House of Representatives must have two-thirds of its members vote to impeach him; something that is not attainable with this GOP House majority. It would be nice to know which justices advised Thomas to not report these gifts, and I have a hunch they likely engaged in similar activities.
One thing is certain though — Clarence Thomas will be remembered as one of, if not the most, corrupt Supreme Court justice to rule on the bench. Between him and his wife I hope their days of corruption and abuse of power are numbered.
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