Clarence Thomas: All the gifts and donations that the Supreme Court Justice didn’t disclose
Justice Clarence Thomas has come under the spotlight for numerous gifts he has received over his years on the Supreme Court bench that he didn’t disclose.
The Supreme Court has come under more scrutiny in recent weeks after a series of ProPublica reports on undisclosed gifts that Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted from a Texas real estate billionaire. Since the first story, additional controversial non-disclosures by Thomas on his financial declaration forms have called into question the ethics standards to which Supreme Court Justices are held.
Unlike all other federal judges, those who have the final say from the highest bench in the nation have no formal ethics code but self-enforce one of their own. “The highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat.
Clarence Thomas: All the gifts and donations that the Supreme Court Justice didn’t disclose
The firestorm over Thomas’ failure to fully disclose monetary and other “hospitality” gifts that he has received exploded in early April. ProPublica reported that for decades Thomas, considered one of the most conservative justices on the high court, has accepted luxurious gifts and travel from the real estate magnate and Republican donor Harlan Crow.
These included the use of the billionaire’s private jet for travel around the US and globally. In addition to repeatedly vacationing with Crow at his private resort in the Adirondacks, the justice and his family have traveled along with the billionaire on his superyacht.
One of those was a nine-day trip island-hopping on Crow’s superyacht in an Indonesian volcanic archipelago which they also hitched a ride there on his private jet. Had Thomas paid for the Indonesian trip out of his own pocket it would have cost him over half a million dollars according to the news outlet.
The scale and frequency of the gifts from Crow to Thomas “have no known precedent in the modern history of the US Supreme Court,” says ProPublica. The two became friends after Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court, and the both defend the gifts. In a statement, Thomas said that Crow “did not have business before the court.” Crow for his part said that he “never asked about a pending or lower court case” nor did the justice discuss one with him.
Justice Thomas put forth a defense for not disclosing the travel and vacationing with Crow and on his dime saying that it was “personal hospitality.”
“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,” said Thomas. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
Real estate transactions
A transaction that has been raising eyebrows is the acquisition by Crow of three properties in Savannah, Georgia. ProPublica found that the billionaire bought the Thomas’ mother’s house and two other properties co-owned by her, the justice, the family of Thomas’ late brother.
Crow paid the three $133,363 and later made extensive repairs to the mother’s home for tens of thousands of dollars in which she still lives. Justices and other officials are required under a federal disclosure law passed after Watergate to report most real estate sales over $1,000.
In light of the controversy surrounding this transaction and the other gifts that have come to light, Justice Thomas has said that he will amend past disclosure statements.
Private school tuition for Thomas’ then-teenage grandnephew
Mark Martin, now in his 30s, was taken into legal custody by the Thomas’s when he was six. He is the grandnephew of the Supreme Court justice. As a teenager in 2008, Thomas decided to send him to a private boarding school in Georgia, Hidden Lake Academy. Before and after that Martin also attended a second boarding school, Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia.
The real estate magnate picked up the bill for the tuition at both academic institutions. While ProPublica doesn’t have an exact amount that was paid for the child’s education at the two schools, the price tag for all four years would have been in excess of $150,000 according to the news outlet.
This generosity from his billionaire friend was never disclosed by Thomas. However, the justice did disclose another gift of $5,000 toward the boy’s education from another friend.