Topline
Justice Clarence Thomas came under fire Monday as Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., revealed additional trips the justice took with real estate magnate Harlan Crow without disclosing them—the latest revelation in a series of recent controversies involving Thomas, leading to calls for him to recuse himself from cases or be removed from office and for the court to impose a binding code of ethics.
Keeping an eye out: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official group photo at … [+]
Key Facts
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.
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.
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 Post reported 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.
What To Watch For
Wyden asked Crow’s attorney Monday to respond to a list of questions about the full extent of Thomas’ travel with Crow by August 26, though it remains to be seen if he’ll comply with the request. Democrats in Congress have pushed for Chief Justice John Roberts and the Justice Department to investigate the relationship between Thomas and Crow and the justice’s failure to disclose it, and sought to have Roberts testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he declined to do. Thomas’ failure to report his dealings with Crow and other wealthy friends could violate the Ethics in Government Act, Democrats and ethics experts have suggested, which carries a punishment of a year in prison or a fine if violated, though it still remains to be seen if Thomas could face any consequences. Democratic lawmakers have referred the issue to the Judicial Conference, which would be tasked with enforcing those rules, and have also asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a criminal investigation, though it’s still unclear whether he’ll do so. Democrats in Congress have also pushed for ethics legislation that would force the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics as a result of the controversies—as justices aren’t required to follow an ethics code as lower federal judges are—and President Joe Biden threw his support behind those efforts last week. The chance of any legislation making it through Congress remains a long shot, however, as Republicans have opposed the efforts, painting Democrats’ ethics efforts as a partisan left-wing attack on conservative justices. The Supreme Court has also so far declined to impose a binding code of ethics itself despite reportedly considering the matter for years, announcing a new code in November that ethics experts have criticized because it does not impose any consequences for violating it.
Surprising Fact
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other left-wing lawmakers have filed articles of impeachment against Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito for alleged ethics infractions, but that’s unlikely to go anywhere. Justices are impeached and removed from office in the same way as presidents, with a majority vote in the House and two-thirds majority in the Senate—which means any effort is almost certain to fail, given Republicans’ control of the House and narrow minority in the Senate.
Big Number
58%. That’s the share of respondents (including 40% of Republicans) in an April 2023 Economist/YouGov poll who said they strongly or somewhat disapprove of Thomas accepting “luxury trips without disclosing them.” Only 43% said they believe Thomas violated the law by doing so, though that’s higher than the 28% who said he didn’t. The justice had a 41% favorability rating among respondents, higher than the 37% who view him negatively, fueled by a 67% favorability rating among Republicans.
Chief Critic
Thomas has not commented on Wyden’s letter to Crow Monday, but Crow spokesman Michael Zona told The New York Times Crow has “always followed applicable tax law” and Wyden’s inquiries “have no legal basis and are only intended to harass a private citizen.” The justice issued a statement following the initial ProPublica report about accepting trips from Crow, which said he was “advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable” on financial disclosures. Crow has defended his relationship with the justice, saying they do not discuss his work, and other people mentioned in ProPublica reports have similarly opposed the publication’s claims. Thomas’ attorney Elliot S. Burke disputed the Senate Finance Committee’s investigation about the justice’s RV to the New York Times, arguing “the loan was never forgiven” and “The Thomases made all payments to Mr. Welters on a regular basis until the terms of the agreement were satisfied in full.” Sokol told the publication its reporting is “a clear attempt to impune [Thomas’] integrity,” and a spokesperson for the Koch network said in a statement the idea Thomas’ appearances at summits “could somehow be undue influence just doesn’t hold water.” Ginni Thomas has also hit back against accusations that her activism has an impact on her husband’s work, and testified to the House January 6 Committee that she “did not speak with [Clarence Thomas] at all about the details of my post-election activities, which were minimal.”
Contra
In his most recent financial disclosures for 2022 and 2023, Thomas did disclose multiple trips with Crow and argued he was now disclosing such travel because of a rules change, but was not previously required to in the past. He also added information about his real estate transaction with Crow, claiming he “failed to realize” it should have been disclosed, and amended his 2019 disclosure to report two trips Crow gifted him. The justice also recused himself in October from a January 6-related case involving his former law clerk John Eastman, marking the first time he had recused from a case connected to the riot amid the concerns about his wife.
Key Background
Thomas’ ethics controversies have been part of a broader string of ethics concerns at the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alito has come under fire following reporting that an anti-abortion advocate knew the court’s 2014 ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby before it was publicly announced and was tipped off by an associate who had dinner with Alito and his wife, and a ProPublica report revealed his luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer. (Alito denied any wrongdoing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.) He’s also come under fire for flying flags outside his homes that were associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement, which he has said was all his wife’s doing. Conservative justices have also drawn scrutiny for socializing and appearing at events alongside right-wing politicians and figures, among other concerns, and the Associated Press detailed how justices’ appearances at public universities have often been used to gin up donations, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s staffers have reportedly “prodded” public institutions where she’s speaking to buy copies of her books. The Times notes that other justices, including the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, have also historically accepted travel from wealthy people with business before the court, though Thomas’ volume of gifts from wealthy friends is believed to be “unprecedented” in the federal judiciary, former federal judge Jeremy Fogel told ProPublica.
