Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is no stranger to questions about his ethical standards. The far-right jurist has, for example, faced awkward questions about incomplete financial disclosure forms. There have been related concerns about his appearances at wealthy conservatives’ political retreats, his speeches, as well as his wife’s activism/lobbying on matters before the court.
But ProPublica today highlighted a qualitatively different kind of controversy for Thomas. The report is well worth your time, but the lede helped set the stage:
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.
For Thomas and the GOP megadonor, this was not unusual. ProPublica’s research, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, found that Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year for more than two decades, none of which has appeared on the conservative’s financial disclosure forms.
Experts in ethics law conceded that by failing to disclose the gifts, Thomas may have crossed legal lines.
Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge, told ProPublica, “It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this.” Virginia Canter, a former government ethics lawyer who served in administrations of both parties, added that Thomas “seems to have completely disregarded his higher ethical obligations.”
If you have a good memory, these revelations might ring a bell. The New York Times reported 12 years ago on the “ethically sensitive friendship” between Thomas and the GOP financier. Despite the fact that Crow’s company had multiple cases in the federal court system, the Times found that he’d showered Thomas with lucrative gifts, including a massive check to the justice’s wife to start a lobbying organization.
ProPublica, however, has advanced the story to a stunning degree, uncovering the details of Thomas’ travel “by drawing from flight records, internal documents distributed to Crow’s employees and interviews with dozens of people ranging from his superyacht’s staff to members of the secretive Bohemian Club to an Indonesian scuba diving instructor.”
While it’s true that a story like this is highly unusual, it’s worth noting that there is a parallel to consider.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson tried to elevate Associate Justice Abe Fortas to chief justice. As part of the process, however, some unfortunate revelations came to light. As longtime readers might recall, I wrote about this in 2011, flagging a report from Ian Millhiser that’s no longer online. Millhiser noted at the time that Fortas, while on the Supreme Court, had a habit of associating with wealthy individuals, and like Thomas reportedly did, Fortas “took inappropriate gifts from his wealthy benefactors.” Fortas had accepted $15,000 to lead seminars at American University — far more than the university normally paid for such services — and the payments were bankrolled by the leaders of frequent corporate litigants including the vice president of Phillip Morris. Fortas survived this revelation, although his nomination for the Chief Justiceship was filibustered into oblivion. Just a year later, the country learned that Fortas took another highly questionable gift. In 1966, one year after Fortas joined the Court, stock speculator Louis E. Wolfson’s foundation began paying Fortas an annual retainer of $20,000 per year for consulting services. Fortas’ actions were legal, and he eventually returned the money after Wolfson was convicted of securities violations and recused himself from Wolfson’s case, but the damage to Fortas — and the potential harm to the Supreme Court’s reputation — were too great. Fortas resigned in disgrace.
To be sure, the controversies aren’t identical. But given the scope of Thomas’ connection to Crow, the extraordinary generosity Crow has shown the justice and his wife, and the fact that Crow had business before the federal judiciary, there are parallels. Thomas did not respond to ProPublica’s detailed list of questions. There’s no reason for that to be the final word on the subject.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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