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Clarence Thomas: Here Are All The Ethics Scandals Involving The Supreme Court Justice Amid Horatio Alger Revelations

July 11, 2023

Topline

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has come under renewed scrutiny after the New York Times reported Sunday the justice has frequently received “benefits” from wealthy friends through his membership in the Horatio Alger Association—the latest in a series of recent controversies involving Thomas that have fueled 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 … [+] the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on October 7, 2022.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Horatio Alger Association: The Times reported 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.

Harlan Crow Trips: ProPublica first reported Thomas has for years accepted trips from GOP megadonor and developer Harlan Crow, including on his private jet and superyacht, without disclosing them on financial disclosures as federal law requires.

Harlan Crow Tuition: ProPublica reported Thursday 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.

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 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.

What To Watch For

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 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. Leading Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have said they intend to move forward with ethics legislation for the Supreme Court this summer, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to colleagues Sunday that lawmakers “must explore every option for restoring faith in our courts,” the Hill reports. Lawmakers had already introduced multiple bills that would force an ethics code onto the Supreme Court, including a bipartisan proposal from Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Angus King (I-Maine). The chance of any legislation passing remains a long shot, however, as Republicans have opposed the efforts, painting Democrats’ ethics efforts as a partisan left-wing attack on conservative justices.

Surprising Fact

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has also called for Thomas’ impeachment over his associations with Crow, but that’s unlikely to happen. 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 a recent 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 declined to comment to the Times on its report on his Horatio Alger membership, but the justice and his allies have defended his relationship with Crow. Thomas issued a statement following the 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. Mark Paoletta, Thomas’ friend and Ginni Thomas’ attorney—who has vacationed with them at Crow’s resort—defended Thomas against the tuition report in a statement Thursday, saying the payments did not have to be disclosed because they were made to the school directly and ProPublica’s report “shows nothing except for the fact that the Thomases and the Crows are kind, generous, and loving people who tried to help this young man.” Ginni Thomas has also hit back against accusations that her activism has an impact on her husband’s work, including her efforts after the 2020 election. “I did not speak with [Clarence Thomas] at all about the details of my post-election activities, which were minimal,” Ginni Thomas testified to the House January 6 Committee.

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 recent ProPublica report revealed he also was treated to luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer. (Alito denied any wrongdoing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.) Conservative justices have also drawn scrutiny for socializing and appearing at events alongside right-wing politicians and figures, among other concerns, and 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. The recent controversies have ramped up efforts to pressure Supreme Court justices to be bound by a code of ethics, which lower federal judges are forced to follow but justices on the high court are not. The Post reported in February the court has reportedly been discussing how to take up an ethics code for years, but has yet to make any progress on it.