Las Vegas Sun
Revelations of the ethical lapses of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas further illustrate the endless plummet of right-wing character and raise the question of whether conservatives in America even care. According to a disturbing report in ProPublica, Thomas and his insurrection-curious wife, Ginni, have spent more than two decades enjoying lavish vacations paid for by Texas billionaire and Republican kingmaker Harlan Crow.
The Thomases’ junkets include accommodations at Crow’s private Adirondack Mountain resort and his Dallas-area ranch. At $55 million, Crow’s ranch is worth more than Mark Cuban’s, Tony Romo’s and Don Henley’s estates, combined.
When Ginni and Clarence Thomas aren’t staying at properties owned by Crow, they are using Crow’s private jet and 165-foot luxury yacht to travel the world, taking private tours of Indonesia and the Greek Isles. Aviation experts estimate that even domestic flights on Crow’s jet would cost upwards of $70,000 round trip if purchased on the open market. Crow even gifted Clarence Thomas a Bible, valued at $19,000, that once belonged to Frederick Douglass and a $15,000 bust of Abraham Lincoln.
Yet despite Crow’s suspicious largess and the Texan’s position as a prominent businessman, real estate mogul and Republican donor, Clarence Thomas hasn’t reported any of Crow’s gifts on his mandatory financial disclosure forms since 2004.
This, despite the fact that federal rules require all judges, including Supreme Court justices, to report anything they receive that has a value of greater than $415, to prevent corruption. There are specific exceptions but transportation on private jets and trips on luxury yachts are not among them.
Thus we have a justice responsible for upholding order and laws flouting them in his private life.
Even more disturbing, this isn’t the first time the justice has been caught failing to disclose reportable gifts or income from a conservative lobbyist.
From 2003-07, Thomas failed to report more than a half-million dollars in reportable income earned by his wife from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank known for climate change denialism, election denialism and other conspiracy theories.
In 2009, Thomas again failed to report income earned by his wife. This time from Liberty Central, an organization founded by Ginni Thomas using money donated by — you guessed it — Harlan Crow.
The Thomases are wealthy by any standards, especially because of special interests shoveling money into Ginni Thomas’ bank account simply for being Clarence’s wife. They could easily afford first-class on any airline. But that’s not good enough for them.
Instead, they require a billionaire’s private plane to transport them on their adventures in corruption.
Spending 20 years accepting extravagant gifts from Harlan Crow demonstrates that Thomas lacks good judgment, an essential trait in people whose job title is “judge.” These are deficiencies that simply shouldn’t be allowed in members of the highest court in the land.
