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Clarence Thomas defends himself against report of undisclosed gifts Clarence Thomas defends himself after undisclosed gifts revelation
(about 2 hours later)
Supreme court justice says he was advised ‘personal hospitality’ was not reportable amid clamor for impeachment Conservative justice says he was told ‘personal hospitality’ from megadonor did not have to be reported, as impeachment calls grow
US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas said on Friday he was advised that the type of “personal hospitality” extended to him by real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow was not reportable. The US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas said on Friday he was advised the “personal hospitality” extended to him for more than 25 years by the Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, now detailed in an explosive report by ProPublica, did not have to be reported under ethics rules.
Thomas, in a statement, said also that he has always sought to comply with disclosure guidelines. “I have endeavoured to follow that counsel throughout my tenure,” Thomas said in a rare statement, “and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
ProPublica reported on Thursday that the long-serving justice accepted luxury trips from Crow over decades despite federal law requiring the disclosure of most gifts, prompting Senate Democrats to call for an investigation. The statement did little to dampen controversy surrounding the 74-year-old conservative, or lessen fire from the political left, amid fresh calls for the justice to be impeached.
“Early in my tenure at the [supreme] court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable,” Thomas said. Thomas is the longest-serving current justice, having been nominated by George HW Bush in 1991. On Thursday, ProPublica reported that he accepted trips from Crow including travel on private jets and yachts and stays at exclusive resorts.
Thomas faced renewed calls for impeachment on Thursday after the two decades of undisclosed luxury gifts was revealed. Thomas may have violated financial disclosure rules when he failed to disclose travel on yachts and jets and other gifts. Justin Elliott, one of the authors of the report, said: “This is the text of the law that ethics lawyers told us he violated. Gifts – such as private jet travel – need to be reported, unless they are ‘food, lodging, or entertainment received as personal hospitality’. This is in the statute itself and predates the recent filing guidance update.”
Citing new guidelines taking effect by the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure requirements for the entire federal judiciary, Thomas added: “It is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.” That update went into effect on 14 March. In a subsequent letter to Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island and the chair of a sub-committee of the judiciary committee, Roslynn Mauskopf, director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, said gifts not covered by the reporting exemption included gifts “such as transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation”.
The revelations had prompted sharp criticism by Democrats of Thomas, who after 31 years is the longest-serving justice and an influential voice in the rightwing majority that last year ended the right to abortion. Thomas said: “Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable.”
Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and chair of the Senate judiciary committee, said: “This behavior is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a justice on the supreme court. He added: “It is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.”
“Today’s report demonstrates, yet again, that supreme court justices must be held to an enforceable code of conduct, just like every other federal judge. The ProPublica report is a call to action, and the Senate judiciary committee will act.” Supreme court justices, however, largely sit above federal ethics regulations, essentially governing themselves.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive congresswoman from New York, tweeted: “This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking – almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached. Barring some dramatic change, this is what the [Chief Justice John] Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights.” Thomas also said Harlan and Kathy Crow were among his “dearest friends” and had joined him and his own wife, the rightwing activist Ginni Thomas, “on a number of family trips” over more than 25 years.
Impeachment remains unlikely, even given other calls regarding the pro-Trump activities of Thomas’s wife, the rightwing activist Ginni Thomas, and not just because Republicans hold the House. Only one supreme court justice has ever been impeached: Samuel Chase, in 1804-05. He was acquitted in the Senate. ProPublica noted that Crow’s generosity was reported in 2011, by the New York Times and Politico. The latter, it said, “revealed that Crow had given half a million dollars to a Tea Party group founded by Ginni Thomas, which also paid her a $120,000 salary”.
On Thursday, in a statement, Crow had denied seeking to influence supreme court decisions. The Dallas businessman said he and his wife, Kathy, had been friends with the Thomases since 1996 and “the hospitality we have extended … is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends”. Other outlets pointed to a 2004 Los Angeles Times report about gifts from Crow including a Bible once owned by the anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass, after which, in the paper’s words, Thomas “stopped disclosing” gifts altogether.
“We have been here before,” Gabe Roth, director of Fix the Court, an advocacy group, told the paper. “Clarence Thomas has been taking these trips for decades and not disclosing them.”
The ProPublica report included an image of a painting hung at Crow’s resort in the mountains of New York, showing Thomas smoking a cigar in company including Crow, the conservative lawyer Mark Paoletta and Leonard Leo, head of the Federalist Society, which played a major role in tilting the supreme court right, with three confirmations under Donald Trump.
Crow said he and his wife had been friends with the Thomases since 1996 and their hospitality “is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends”.
He also claimed: “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. More generally, I am unaware of any of our friends ever lobbying or seeking to influence Justice Thomas on any case, and I would never invite anyone who I believe had any intention of doing that.”
The senior conservative of six on the nine-member court, Thomas’s influence has grown through a series of controversial conservative rulings, not least the removal of the federal right to abortion when the Dobbs v Jackson decision last year overturned Roe v Wade.
In a concurring opinion in Dobbs, Thomas suggested similar rights – same-sex marriage, gay sex and contraception access – should now be reviewed. He did not mention interracial marriage. Thomas is Black. His wife is white.
The ProPublica report prompted Senate Democrats to call for an investigation – and some on the left to call for Thomas to be impeached and removed.
Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said: “This behavior is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant … Supreme court justices must be held to an enforceable code of conduct, just like every other federal judge … the Senate judiciary committee will act.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive congresswoman from New York, said: “Thomas must be impeached. Barring some dramatic change, this is what the [Chief Justice John] Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights.”
Impeachment is highly unlikely, even given other calls regarding Ginni Thomas’s efforts in support of Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and Clarence Thomas’s failure to recuse himself from a related case. Like Crow, Ginni Thomas has claimed not to talk to her husband about cases or politics in general.
Writing for Slate on the legal aspect, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern said: “Clarence Thomas broke the law, and it isn’t particularly close.
Thomas broke the law, a law which contains serious civil penalties, though the bogus technicality on which he relies, in addition to his political clout, will be more than enough to ensure that he never faces any actual legal consequences.”