Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas never repaid a “substantial portion” of a $267,230 loan he took out from a wealthy friend to pay for a luxury camper, the Senate Finance Committee announced Wednesday, raising conceivable tax considerations, the latest revelation in a series of recent controversies. involving Thomas, which has led to calls for him to be recruited from the cases or fired from his position and for the court to impose a binding code of ethics.
RV loan forgiven: Thomas never repaid a “substantial portion” of a $267,230 loan from wealthy friend Anthony Welters, which he used to buy a luxury motorhome, a Senate Finance Committee investigation has revealed, raising questions about whether the loan reported his taxes well. . . If Thomas had never paid the principal of the loan, it would have created a “significant amount of taxable income,” noted the committee, which it failed to report in its monetary filing with 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-profile donors, without disclosing his participation in the summits or a personal jet he flew to and from the occasion in 2018, ProPublica reported in September.
Koch Brothers: ProPublica also reported that Thomas was dating the two Koch brothers (David died in 2019) through repeated trips to Bohemian Grove, a personal retreat for wealthy men; The report says the Koch network has taken cases to the Supreme Court and added hiring staff attorneys to constitute plaintiffs in an upcoming case this quarter.
Gifts from Sokol, Huizenga and Novelly: ProPublica reported that during his tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas accepted gifts, adding at least 38 “vacation destinations,” 26 personal jet flights, VIP sports passes, helicopter rides, personal resort stays and one “permanent stay. “Invitation” to a personal golf club, which ProPublica said was “almost underrated,” namely former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, delinquent billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga and Apex Oil CEO Paul “Tony. “none of which were disclosed in Thomas’ Federal Disclosure Forms.
Horatio Alger Association: The ProPublica report builds on an earlier New York Times article that Thomas, a longtime member of the Horatio Alger Association, created to “dispel the growing belief . . . that the American dream is no longer attainable”; For years, I accepted gifts from a “[big]
Trips to Harlan Crow: ProPublica first reported that Thomas had been accepting rides from Republican mega-donor and developer Harlan Crow for years, adding his personal jet and superyacht, disclosing them in monetary statements as required by federal law.
Harlan Crow tuition: ProPublica reported Thursday that Crow also paid two years of tuition for Thomas’ great-nephew, Mark Martin, who is in court custody, to attend two personal schools in the 2000s, which charge $6,000 a month. in one of the schools and the like. Not disclosed, even though Thomas revealed the tuition payment another friend had made years earlier.
Harlan Crow Real Estate: Thomas and his circle of relatives also sold a series of homes in Savannah, Georgia, to Crow in 2014 without disclosing it as required, ProPublica reports, adding the space where his mother still lives, which Crow told the publication. bought that way. It is possible that he will eventually build a museum committed to justice.
Ginni Thomas Conservative activism: Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, is a right-wing activist, which has raised abundant moral considerations about the overlap between her paintings and those of her husband, especially since the New Yorker reported that the teams in which she has been involved have filed briefs with the Supreme Court, adding an organization that intervened in the ongoing case related to affirmative action in college admissions.
Ginni Thomas Leonard Leo: Leo, a conservative legal activist who spent billions to reshape the federal courts, adding the Supreme Court, asked then-conservative researcher Kellyanne Conway to give Ginni Thomas “another $25,000 more” through a nonprofit he advises. . . who later filed a brief with the Supreme Court, but concealed the payment from her, the Post reports, telling Conway, “There’s no mention of Ginni, of course. “
Ginni Thomas’ 2020 election: Thomas pushed efforts to overturn the effects of the 2020 election when her husband heard examples of it, adding texting to then-White House leader Mark Meadows, fueling calls for Thomas’ resignation or impeachment due to what is perceived conflict of interest.
Jan. 6: Ginni Thomas also showed that she briefly attended the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol construction and publicly criticized the Jan. 6 House committee, and the judiciary has been criticized for not recusing itself in a case. related to former President Donald Trump’s files turned over to the committee, in which he was the only one to make a judgment on who disagreed and the idea that the instances had been withheld.
Funding Ginni Thomas: The Post reported in March that a conservative organization formed through Ginni Thomas in 2019 had raised about $600,000 from anonymous donors sent through a right-wing think tank that filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court at the same time, and ethics experts said Clarence Thomas would have had to recuse himself from the case if his wife had been paid through of the organization.
Financial disclosures: Thomas has made a number of other “errors and omissions” in money disclosure reporting, which the Washington Post reported included filing property taxes for decades from a company that closed in 2006 and subsequently had to replace its money statements on several occasions, adding after failing to report his wife’s source of income in the 2000s.
The Senate Finance Committee asked Thomas to tell them what percentage of the RV loan was paid and whether it was reported correctly, and he said he referred his considerations to the Senate Judiciary Committee for review. imaginable moral problems. Congressional Democrats have urged Chief Justice John Roberts and the Justice Department to investigate the dates between Thomas and Crow and the judge’s failure to disclose them, and have asked Roberts to testify before the Committee Judicial. Senate, which he refused. Thomas’s failure to report his dealings with Crow and other wealthy friends may simply violate the Ethics in Government Act, Democrats and ethics experts have suggested, which carries a one-year sentence in criminal cases or a fine for violations. , although this has not yet been done. seen. If only Thomas could face the consequences. Democratic lawmakers referred the matter to the Judicial Conference, which would be responsible for enforcing those rules, but the framework did not take into consideration ethics court cases at its last meeting. Democrats in Congress have also pushed an ethics law that would require the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics in the wake of controversies (since judges are not required to abide by a code of ethics). as are lower federal judges) with the judicial power of the Senate. The Commission voted in favor of such a bill in July. However, the chances of Congress passing the law remain slim as Republicans have opposed the efforts, describing Democrats’ ethics efforts as a left-wing partisan attack on conservative judges. The Supreme Court has also so far refused to impose an ethics code, even though it has reportedly taken the factor into account for years, and Justice Elena Kagan said in August that the justices “have discussed this question,” but He noted that “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to do it. ” We know that the nine of us have other points of view on this issue.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N. Y. ) and other left-leaning lawmakers have called for Thomas’ impeachment because of his associations with Crow, but that’s unlikely to happen. Judges are impeached and fired from their jobs in the same as presidents, with a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate, meaning that any effort is almost certain to fail, given the Republicans’ preference in the House and the narrow minority in the Senate.
58%. That’s the percentage of respondents (40% Republicans) in an April Economist/YouGov vote who said they strongly disapproved or somewhat that Thomas would accept “luxury travel without disclosing it. “Only 43% said they thought Thomas had broken the law by doing so. , that was up from 28% who said no. The judgment on it had a favorable score of 41% among respondents, higher than the 37% who view it negatively, driven by a favorable score of 67%. among Republicans.
Thomas’ lawyer, Elliot S. Burke, challenged the Senate Finance Committee’s investigation to the New York Times, arguing that “the loan was never forgiven” and that “the Thomases made all invoices to Mr. Welters on a normal until the terms of the contract were met. the agreement is fulfilled. ” In its whole. » The ruling issued a statement following ProPublica’s initial report on Crow’s acceptance of the trip, which said he had been “informed of this type of private hospitality by close private friends, who had no claims before the Court. ” , should not be declared” in the monetary statements. Crow has defended his relationship with Justice, saying they do not discuss his work, and other people discussed in ProPublica’s reporting have also objected to the publication’s claims. Sokol told the publication that its reporting was “a transparent attempt to impure [Thomas’s] integrity,” and a spokesperson for the Koch network said in a statement that the concept that Thomas’ summit appearances “could be undue influence simply does not hold up. ” Thomas also defended herself against accusations that her activism affected her husband’s work, testifying before the House committee on January 6 that she “did not discuss at all with [Clarence Thomas] the main points of my post-election activities, which were minimal. ” .
In his latest monetary disclosure, Thomas disclosed several trips with Crow in 2022 and argued that he now discloses those trips due to a rule change, but that he was not required to do so in the past. He also added information about his true estate transaction with Crow, saying he “did not authenticate” it, was revealed. The ruling also recused himself in October from a Jan. 6-related case involving his former attorney John Eastman, marking the first time he recused himself from a riot-related case amid considerations about his wife.
Thomas’s moral controversies are part of a broader set of moral considerations within the conservative 6-3 Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alito came under fire after reporting that an abortion advocate knew of the court’s 2014 ruling in Burwell v. Hobthrough Lobthrough before it was announced publicly and that he was tipped off through an associate who had dinner with Alito and his wife, and a recent ProPublica report revealed his luxury vacation with billionaire Paul Singer. (Alito denied any wrongdoing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. ) Conservative judges have also faced scrutiny for socializing and attending events alongside right-wing politicians and figures, among other considerations, and the Associated Press has detailed how judges’ public appearances at universities have been used to raise donations, and the judge’s assistants Sonia Sotomayor has allegedly “urged” public establishments where she speaks to purchase copies of her books. The Times notes that other justices, including the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, have also traditionally accepted trips from other wealthy people with petitions before the court, although the volume of gifts from Thomas’s wealthy friends is considered “unprecedented” in the federal system. judicial system, old,” the federal sentencing of Jeremy Fogel told ProPublica.
What is the Horatio Alger Association? The Clarence Thomas organization and several billionaire friends, according to a report. (Forbes)
Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow paid for Clarence Thomas’ parents’ tuition, report finds (Forbes)
Clarence Thomas Will Update Financial Information to Include Real Estate Deals from Republican Megadonors Amid Controversy, Report Says (Forbes)
Clarence Thomas has allegedly accepted gifts from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow for decades and never disclosed it (Forbes)
Clarence Thomas sold his home to Republican donor Harlan Crow, according to a report (Forbes)
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Faces Hearing Calls, Recusal and Resignation Over His Wife’s 2020 Election Texts (Forbes)
The conservative organization led by Ginni Thomas would have raised $600,000, but we don’t know from whom (Forbes)