Conservative justice Clarence Thomas and his wife accepted luxury trips from a prominent Republican wealthy donor without disclosing them, according to a new ProPublica investigation.
The luxury trips took place virtually annually to various locations, including Indonesia, New Zealand, California, Texas and Georgia, spanning over two decades courtesy of Harlan Crow, a Republican real estate developer. Thomas’ trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. Justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials are required by law to disclose most gifts. Supreme Court justices must declare gifts higher than $415 in value, including any transportation that substitutes for commercial transport.
The story opens with the following:
IN LATE JUNE 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.
If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.
Crow denied the gifts were offered to tap into Thomas’ political influence.
“The hospitality we have extended to the Thomas’s over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends… We have never asked about a pending or lower court case, and Justice Thomas has never discussed one, and we have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue,” Crow said.
Crow became close friends with him and Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas. In 2011, the New York Times reported that the real estate magnate helped finance a museum dedicated to the history of Thomas’ hometown, Pin Point, Georgia.
New York congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has called for Thomas’s impeachment.
“This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking – almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached,” she tweeted. “Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights.”
Supreme Court justices, like presidents, can only be removed from office through impeachment. In order for Thomas to be ousted, it would require a majority vote from the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to remove him from office.
Stand Up America, an advocacy organization dedicated to helping to build a truly representative democracy, issued a statement condemning Thomas.
“Justice Thomas accepted and failed to disclose lavish vacations gifted to him by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow in a shameless abuse of power and an affront to the American people. Sadly, these actions are part of a pattern of corruption that betrays Thomas’ deep-seated contempt for the rule of law. No one is above the law–not even Supreme Court justices,” said Brett Edkins, the organization’s managing director of policy and political affairs.
“Our highest court must be held to a higher ethical standard. Congress has a constitutional duty to act quickly by passing a Supreme Court code of ethics and investigating the full extent of Justice Thomas’ wrongdoing,” he added.
