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Clarence Thomas Finally Reports Gifts He Says Were 'Inadvertently Omitted' From Disclosures
"The fact that he omitted the plane to Indonesia and the yacht... leads me to believe he and I have very different interpretations of his disclosure responsibilities, and that's a problem," said one campaigner.
Jun 07, 2024
Far-right U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has officially—and belatedly—disclosed two luxury vacations gifted him by a billionaire Republican megadonor as eight of the nine high court judges released their financial disclosure statements on Friday.
Thomas' 2023 disclosure includes food and lodging during 2019 trips to Bali, Indonesia and Bohemian Grove—a secretive, men-only retreat in Sonoma County, California—paid for by billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow. The trips and other gifts for Thomas—including yacht excursions, flights on private jets, and private school tuition for the justice's grandnephew—were first revealed by ProPublica last year.
In his 2023 disclosure, Thomas claims information about the 2019 trips was "inadvertently omitted at the time of filing," and that the justice "sought and received guidance from his accountant and ethics counsel" as he prepared this year's report.
This fits a pattern: In 2011, Thomas attributed his failure to disclose his wife's income to a "misunderstanding of the filing instructions." In 2023, he said he "inadvertently failed to realize" that he needed to publicly disclose a real estate deal with Crow.
"The fact that he omitted the plane to Indonesia and the yacht around Indonesia leads me to believe he and I have very different interpretations of his disclosure responsibilities, and that's a problem," Gabe Roth, executive director of the watchdog Fix the Court, toldThe Washington Post.
The justices' disclosures also show that three members of the court—Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—received six-figure payments for book deals.
"Each justice would be capable of earning 10 times their current salary in the private sector, so it's reasonable for them to want to boost their income as authors, especially those with inspiring life stories," said Roth. "This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't see anything ethically compromising about it so long as the justices don't use their offices to hawk books, they speak to ideologically diverse audiences on their book tours, and they recuse from petitions involving their publishers."
Jackson also took four tickets to a Beyoncé concert worth over $3,700.
"Justice Jackson is 'Crazy in Love' with Beyoncé's music. Who isn't?" Supreme Court spokesperson Patricia McCabe told The Washington Post.
But Roth said that "next time... Justice Jackson should pay for her own Beyoncé tickets."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was paid $1,900 to voice an animated version of herself on the PBS children's show "Alma's Way." Justice Elena Kagan was reimbursed for travel, lodging, and food by Notre Dame Law School following a speech she delivered there last September. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh did not receive any gifts last year, according to their disclosure forms. Justice Samuel Alito was again granted an extension to file.
The justices' disclosures came a day after Fix the Court published a database listing 672 gifts worth nearly $6.6 million that current and former Supreme Court judges received, mostly since 2004. Thomas accounted for 193 gifts with an estimated value of more than $4 million that were identified by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The disclosures also came in the same week that Congressman Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) introduced the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act, which would create a Supreme Court Office of Investigative Counsel tasked with investigating ethical improprieties and reporting them to Congress.
A code of conduct officially endorsed by the Supreme Court last November was widely panned as a toothless public relations stunt.
Thomas' gifts from wealthy donors—and his failure to report them—have driven calls for his recusal from some cases and even his resignation or impeachment.
Responding to Fix the Court's database, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) noted Friday that former Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas "resigned in shame" in 1969 "over a payment that was less than a tiny fraction of what Clarence Thomas has taken from his billionaire pals."
"Republicans are protecting this obvious corruption by blocking any attempt to hold Thomas accountable," Wyden added.
Citing a "moral failure," the nonpartisan group Veterans for Responsible Leadership asserted Friday that "Clarence Thomas needs to face impeachment."
"Failing to disclose those gifts is an acknowledgment he knew it was wrong," the group added. "The character of the court needs to be above reproach, so he must be shown the door."
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Backed by MAGA Speaker, 'Serial Liar and Indicted Fraudster' George Santos Avoids Expulsion
"Unfortunately, the new speaker and House Republicans decided to put political expediency over common decency," said one critic.
Nov 01, 2023
Speaker Mike Johnson was among the 182 Republicans and 31 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives who on Wednesday night declined to expel Congressman George Santos over his litany of lies and alleged criminal behavior he has denied.
Ousting the scandal-plagued New York Republican required a two-thirds majority. In the end, only two dozen Republicans joined 155 Democrats who supported the resolution. The remaining 41 lawmakers from both parties either voted present or did not vote.
Sean Eldridge, president and founder of the progressive group Stand Up America, specifically placed blame on Johnson (R-La.), whose election as speaker last week was widely seen as a display of the far-right's hold on the Republican Party.
"As one of Mike Johnson's first acts as speaker, he's chosen to protect a serial liar and indicted fraudster," he said. "That speaks volumes about the respect he has for American voters and his willingness to stand up to corruption. Sadly, this is just the most recent example of Republicans defending lying, indicted politicians for perceived political gain."
"Voting to expel Santos is the bare minimum for any elected representative who believes in standing up to corruption," Eldridge added. "Unfortunately, the new speaker and House Republicans decided to put political expediency over common decency. The American people, and the constituents of New York's 3rd congressional district, deserve better."
During his first interview as speaker last week, when Fox News' Sean Hannity asked about the effort to expel Santos, Johnson signaled his opposition to ousting anyone charged but not yet convicted and noted the party's "razor-thin" House majority.
Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen and co-leader of the Not Above the Law coalition, also called out all members who voted against the resolution, declaring Wednesday night that "George Santos should have been expelled."
"Politicians need to restore trust in our democracy, but the members who failed to act on one of the most thoroughly investigated and clear-cut cases of fraud by a House member are further eroding that trust," she said. "Santos' constituents deserve real representation, and Americans deserve to know that the people they elect to office are not above the law."
Santos has faced mounting pressure to resign throughout his legal troubles, including last month, when federal prosecutors filed new wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy charges against the first-term congressman.
Following those charges, five other Republican congressmen from New York—Reps. Anthony D'Esposito, Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, and Brandon Williams—introduced the resolution that failed on Wednesday.
"This issue is not a political one, but a moral one," the resolution's GOP co-sponsors argued in a letter to House colleagues that preceded the vote. "We should let the American people know if a candidate for Congress lies about everything about himself to get their votes, and then that false identity becomes known by his own admission or otherwise, that House members will expel the fraudster and give voters a timely opportunity to have proper representation."
During debate on Wednesday, Democratic New York Congressman Dan Goldman pointed out that the Republicans behind this resolution declined to support a similar expulsion measure he co-sponsored in May.
Goldman still spoke and voted in favor of the Republican resolution. Notably, it was Santos himself who gave the Democrat the opportunity to speak, after the co-sponsors reportedly declined his request.
Punchbowl News journalist Ben Jacobs said that "at this point, you have to assume that Santos sees attacks on his fellow New York Republicans as a net plus after they have been coming after him for almost a year."
NBC Newsreported that D'Esposito suggested to reporters he may force another vote on expelling Santos in the weeks ahead, after the House Ethics Committee releases findings of its investigation into the embattled congressman.
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Here Are the Members of Congress Who Dumped Bank Stocks Amid Fears of Financial Crisis
"We need to ban trading in individual stocks by members of Congress to begin to restore the public's faith in elected officials," said one critic.
Apr 20, 2023
As Democratic lawmakers renew their push for a stock trading ban on Capitol Hill, an analysis released Wednesday found that several members of Congress or their close relatives sold bank equities last month as fears of a financial crisis spread in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse.
On March 10, the day SVB failed, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) sold $65,000 to $150,000 worth of Seacoast Banking Corporation shares, according to disclosure data compiled by Capitol Trades.
The New York Timesreported Wednesday that 48 hours after the Florida Democrat's stock sale, he "said in a television interview that he had attended a bipartisan congressional briefing on the tumult."
"And on March 13, as investors fretted over the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and two other, smaller banks, Seacoast Banking shares fell nearly 20%," the Times noted. "A spokesman for Mr. Moskowitz said in an email that the Seacoast share sales had been suggested by the congressman's financial adviser as a means to diversify his young children's holdings. Mr. Moskowitz said the congressional briefing on the bank crisis had taken place just before the television interview and after the shares were sold."
Moskowitz wasn't alone in selling his bank holdings as the run on SVB and its subsequent fall sparked concerns of contagion, prompting federal regulators to bail out the California-based firm—as well as Signature Bank—and effectively backstop the entire banking sector.
Citing Capitol Trades, the Times reported that Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) "sold shares of First Republic Bank, the large depositor that was rapidly losing both cash and clients, on March 15, the day before it received an industry bailout of $30 million."
"The wife and children of Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, sold First Republic shares that same day," the Times continued. "Rep. John Curtis, Republican of Utah, sold shares in First Republic from a joint account with his spouse on March 16, the day the industry bailout occurred. By that time, First Republic shares had already fallen nearly 80 percent from a February peak. The timing of the sales by those three lawmakers or their relatives meant that the sellers averted an additional price swoon that was still to come."
"People need to have confidence that policymakers are making decisions based on what's best for the country, not what's best for their stock portfolios."
Details of the lawmakers' suspiciously well-timed transactions came a day after Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led a group of House and Senate members in introducing the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, legislation that would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and their dependent children from trading individual stocks.
Just one Republican, Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas, has cosponsored the new bill.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a longtime proponent of banning stock trading in Congress and a cosponsor of the ETHICS Act, said during a Tuesday press conference that lawmakers "were trading bank stocks" amid widespread turmoil in the financial sector last month.
"We know what position members of Congress can be in, and we know that the temptations are too great for some members of Congress to resist," said Brown, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. "That's why this legislation is so important. People need to have confidence that policymakers are making decisions based on what's best for the country, not what's best for their stock portfolios."
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journalreported that two lawmakers—Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)—"reported trades in bank stocks last month as they worked on government efforts to address fallout from two of the largest bank failures in American history."
"Malliotakis... bought stock in a regional bank before a subsidiary agreed to take over Signature Bank's deposits following its closure," the Journal reported. "Days before she bought the stock, she said she met with financial regulators to discuss the bank’s closure."
Blumenauer, who signed onto legislation that would impose stricter regulations on mid-sized banks, "reported selling between $1,001 and $15,000 in Bank of America stock on March 9, as panic was spreading and shares of the four biggest U.S. banks—including Bank of America—slid," the newspaper added. "A week after the sale, the stock was down 5%."
Adam Smith, vice president for democracy initiatives at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, tweeted Wednesday that "corrupt or not, stories like this make the institution look bad."
"We need to ban trading in individual stocks by members of Congress to begin to restore the public's faith in elected officials," Smith wrote.
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