Justice Clarence Thomas could trigger an investigation of Supreme Court corruption. (Photo: Earl McDonald/Library of Congress)
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas allegedly failed to report as income and pay taxes on millions of dollars in free luxury vacations and even a six-figure luxury recreational vehicle,
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) laid out the allegations today in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The breadth of the omissions uncovered to date, and the serious possibility of additional tax fraud and false statement violations by Justice Thomas and his associates, warrant the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate this misconduct,” the letter states.
The same investigation should focus on Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito, who also have accepted millions of dollars from benefactors without disclosing the payments.
Social media critics have decried the blatant disregard of ethics rules and tax laws.
“I feel like we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg here. It’s likely all of the justices have billionaire benefactors that shower them with “free” gifts with “no strings attached,” wrote one critic on Reddit, a social media site.
“My wife is a research scientist with the NIH. Not only did she have to declare her investments, she has to declare mine as well. The ethics office told us we had to sell a particular stock I owned because there was a potential conflict of interest. Not even confirmed – just potential,” wrote another critic.
The controversy has escalated in the face of a new Supreme Court ruling that essentially legalizes certain forms of bribery.
That was the ruling authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Snyder v United States, the court held that “gratuities” – that is, post-facto gifts and payments – are not technically “bribes”, and therefore not illegal.
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To qualify as a bride, the gratuity must come before an official act is taken. Anything transacted after an official act is now considered a “gratuity” under the 6-3 opinion, split along partisan lines.
“The court has thereby continued its long effort to legalize official corruption, using the flimsiest of pretexts to rob federal anti-corruption statutes of all meaning,” wrote Moira Donegan in the UK Guardian.
In the specific instance, the senators pointed to unreported luxury trips and gifts that Thomas received over the years from billionaire friends with business before the court.
Thomas failed to report the gifts and luxury trips as required by law until they were revealed in a ProPublica expose.
“These were blatant bribes and it’s high time that he faced the consequences,” they wrote.
Among the allegations, Thomas failed to pay back a $267,230 “loan” that was used to buy a luxury recreational vehicle.
“Justice Thomas failed to clarify whether or why he failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in forgiven debt on his federal income tax returns and pay the income taxes owed,” the letter states.
“We submit that the facts we have developed, combined with strategically evasive answers, creates predication for further investigation by relevant authorities,” they wrote in the letter.
“The evidence assembled thus far plainly suggests that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics and false-statement laws and raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have complied with their federal tax obligations,” the letter stated.
“Presented with opportunities to resolve questions about his conduct, Justice Thomas has maintained a suspicious silence.”
Both lawmakers hold influential positions in the Senate. Wyden chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Whitehouse sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, with oversight of the judiciary.
A special counsel also needs to look into how Justice Kavanaugh paid off $200,000 in credit card debt, a $1.2 million mortgage on his house and $33,000 in country club fees.
Brett Kavanaugh has never answered where he got the money to pay off his debts. (Photo: CSpan)
Kavanaugh has refused to disclose the source of the money. If the debts were paid by someone else he would need to treat it as income and file taxes.
ProPublica also uncovered that Alito himself has accepted undisclosed lavish gifts from Republican billionaires.
Alito also disclosed his partisanship in a secret recorded conversation with a journalist and was embarrassed when it was discovered he flew an American flag upside down — a distress signal that haf been adopted by the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
The depth of the corruption in the current Supreme Court overshadows the last time a justice was involved in a financial scandal.
In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas was forced to resign after it was revealed he had a close relationship with the family foundation run by a convicted stock manipulator, who paid Fortas a $20,000 fee to serve on its board.
Fortas stepped down in the face of a bipartisan outcry on Capitol Hill and the threat of impeachment.
Today, he would be right at home on this Supreme Court.
Garland must take action to restore the integrity of the court.