Opinions/Impeach Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
For justice to be equitable, justices must be neutral to personal or politics. However, Justice Thomas has been compromised.
Financially and Ethically Compromised!
| Clarence Thomas: Here Are All The Ethics Scandals Involving The Supreme Court Justice Amid New Harlan Crow Trips1 — Forbes Magazine. Aug 5, 2024,04:12pm EDT |
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| Harlan Crow Trips: ProPublica first reported in 2023 that Thomas had for years accepted trips from GOP megadonor and developer Crow, including on his private jet and superyacht, without disclosing them on financial disclosures as federal law requires. |
| Senate Findings On Harlan Crow: Though Thomas has now started disclosing some of his trips with Crow on his financial disclosure forms, claiming he was not previously obligated to report them, the Senate Judiciary Committee and now the Senate Finance Committee have uncovered additional undisclosed travel as part of investigations into Thomas—including spending time with Crow in Russia—and Wyden, the Finance Committee chair, alleged Monday Crow is improperly claiming his yacht as a for-profit business in order to avoid paying taxes on it. |
| Harlan Crow Tuition: ProPublica reported in May 2023 Crow also paid two years of tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew Mark Martin, whom the justice has custody of, to attend two private schools in the 2000s, which cost $6,000 per month at one of the schools and were similarly not disclosed—even as Thomas did disclose a tuition payment a different friend made years earlier. |
| Harlan Crow Real Estate: Thomas and his family also sold a string of properties in Savannah, Georgia, to Crow in 2014 without disclosing that as required, ProPublica reports—including the home where his mother still lives—which Crow told the publication he purchased so he could eventually build a museum dedicated to the justice. |
| RV Loan Forgiven: Thomas never repaid a “substantial portion” of a $267,230 loan from wealthy friend Anthony Welters, which he used to purchase a luxury RV, a Senate Finance Committee investigation found, raising questions about whether the loan was properly reported on his taxes. If Thomas never paid the principal on the loan, it would have created a “significant amount of taxable income,” the committee noted, which wasn’t reported on his financial disclosure to the court in 2008, the year Welker said the loan was “satisfied.” |
| Koch Network Summits: Thomas attended at least two donor summits for the Koch network—the right-wing political organization founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch—and participated in a dinner with high-level donors, without disclosing his appearance at the summits or a private jet trip he took to and from the event in 2018, ProPublica reported in September. |
| Koch Brothers: ProPublica also reported Thomas cultivated a relationship with the two Koch brothers (David died in 2019) through repeated trips to the Bohemian Grove, a private retreat for wealthy men; the report noted the Koch network has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including having staff attorneys represent the plaintiffs in an upcoming case this term. |
| Sokol, Huizenga and Novelly Gifts: ProPublica reported that during his tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas has accepted gifts including at least 38 “destination vacations,” 26 private jet flights, VIP sports passes, helicopter flights, private resorts stay and a “standing invitation” for a private golf club—which ProPublica noted was “almost certainly an undercount”—particularly from former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, late billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga and Apex Oil CEO Paul “Tony” Novelly, none of which were disclosed on Thomas’ federal disclosure forms. |
| Horatio Alger Association: ProPublica’s reporting built off a previous New York Times report that Thomas—a longtime member of the Horatio Alger Association, which was created to “dispel the mounting belief … that the American dream was no longer attainable”—has for years accepted gifts from a “[broad] cohort of wealthy and powerful friends” who belong to the group, including people with business before the Supreme Court, receiving such benefits as luxury trips and a Super Bowl ring. |
| Ginni Thomas Conservative Activism: Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, is a right-wing activist, which has raised considerable ethics concerns about overlap between her and her husband’s work—particularly as the New Yorker reported groups she’s been involved with have submitted briefs before the Supreme Court, including a group that has weighed in on the court’s pending case about affirmative action in university admissions. |
| Ginni Thomas Leonard Leo: Leo, a conservative judicial activist who’s spent billions on efforts to reshape the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, told then-conservative pollster Kellyanne Conway to give Ginni Thomas “another $25k” through a nonprofit group he advises—which then filed a brief with the Supreme Court—but conceal that the payment was for her, the Post reports, telling Conway, “No mention of Ginni, of course.” |
| Ginni Thomas 2020 Election: Thomas pushed efforts to overturn the 2020 election results as her husband was hearing cases on it, including sending text messages to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, which fueled calls for Thomas to resign or face impeachment over the perceived conflict of interest.2 |
| January 6: Ginni Thomas has also confirmed she briefly attended the rally on January 6 that preceded the attack on the Capitol building and publicly criticized the House January 6 Committee, and the justice has come under fire for failing to recuse himself in a case concerning former President Donald Trump’s records being turned over to the committee—in which he was the only justice to dissent and believe the records should have been withheld.3 |
| Ginni Thomas Funding: The Post reported in March that a conservative group Ginni Thomas formed in 2019 had raised nearly $600,000 from anonymous donors funneled through a right-wing think tank that filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court during the same time, and ethics experts said Clarence Thomas should have recused himself from that case if his wife was paid by the group. |
| Financial Disclosures: Thomas has made a series of other “errors and omissions” on financial disclosure reports, which the Washington Postreported includes reporting real estate income for decades from a company that shut down in 2006 and has in the past had to amend his financial disclosures multiple times, including after failing to report his wife’s income in the 2000s. |
Supreme Court Judge Comes Under Fire Due to Findings of an Ethics Probe • MSN
The Other Billionaires Who Helped Clarence Thomas Live a Luxe Life — ProPublica. Aug. 10, 2023, 5:45 a.m. EDT.
While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.
- Records show that Justice Thomas bought an expensive RV over 20 years ago. The loan at the time amounted to $267,230. However, Justice Thomas did not settle the loan, as his wealthy friend took care of it. The bone of contention is that the loan does not appear on any of Justice Thomas’s ethics forms.4
- During the investigation of the RV purchase, the senate committee discovered the loan was obtained from Anthony Welters in 1999. The only evidence of that transaction is a 1999 promissory note signed by Justice Thomas.4
- Unfortunately, only a single trail of the loan exists in Justice Thomas’s tax returns. He did pay the loan interest, amounting to $20,043.23. However, the judge at no time declared in his records that the loan had been forgiven. The rule is that the IRS must receive the tax on a loan even if someone has forgiven it.4
- In April, ProPublica released that Justice Thomas has been enjoying various gifts, with no disclosure, over the years. Some of the gifts came in the form of full-funded trips and vacations. Interestingly, most of the donors involved have GOP affiliations.4
California attorney James L. Arrasmith offers his opinion regarding gifts of substantial value and travel of Justice Thomas: Supreme Court Under Fire: Justice Clarence Thomas, June 19, 2024
- The Importance of Transparency and Accountability
- Potential Conflicts of Interest and Their Consequence
- Calls for Stricter Disclosure Requirements
- The Political Dimension
- Implications for the Supreme Court and the Judicial System
- Preserving Judicial Integrity and Public Trust
5 U.S. Code § 7353 - Gifts to Federal employees / U.S. Code / US Law / LII / Legal Information Institute
Clarence Thomas Is Committing Tax Fraud • MSN
This article is a particularly damning article. Clarence Thomas has accepted private jet flights to lavish resorts by billionaire individuals whose corporate affiliations could be influenced in a United States of America Supreme Court ruling.
- Clarence Thomas’ former clerks have brought him a taxidermy lobster and batteries for his RV to express their loyalty over the years, report says • Business Insider. Dec 25, 2023, 5:45 PM EST
- AOC, House Democrats Ask AG Merrick Garland to Investigate Clarence Thomas • Business Insider. Aug 11, 2023, 9:05 PM EDT
- Clarence Thomas Purchased His RV With the Help of a Wealthy Friend • Business Insider6. Aug 5, 2023, 1:08 PM EDT
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This is an excellent summarization of the financial and ethical problems and conflicts of Thomas, plus his wife, Ginny.
— Ralph Hightower ↩ -
DAMN!
— *Ralph Hightower ↩ -
Imagine the optics if Ginni Thomas were photographed or recorded at the rioting and subsequently charged with sedition.
— Ralph Hightower ↩ -
Supreme Court Judge Comes Under Fire Due to Findings of an Ethics Probe • MSN ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Ralph Hightower — Like a fox guarding the hen house. ↩
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Those Prevost Marathon RV normally retail new in the multi million dollar range. Buying a used version for $267,000 is probably below market value for used. — Ralph Hightower ↩