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Justice Clarence Thomas's Vacations With GOP Donor Likely Exempt From Reporting Requirements, Per Federal Documents

Justice Thomas has faced renewed calls for impeachment following the disclosure of luxury vacations paid for by Republican Megadonor

Published: April 06, 2023
  |   By Adrian Norman

America’s political left is once again calling for the impeachment of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, citing a new report from ProPublica that shows Justice Thomas went on several vacations paid for by a Republican donor.

Numerous news outlets are reporting that Thomas accepted expensive trips and dinners that were paid for by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow for the past two decades without disclosing them on financial filings, using these incidents to fuel theories of impropriety.

According to the ProPublica report, Thomas and Crow have had a friendship and vacationed together for more than 20 years. Some of that travel has included accommodations on Crow’s super yacht and Bombardier Global 5000 private jet.

“The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court,” ProPublica stated. “These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said.”

However, the U.S. government’s Filing Instructions For Judicial Officers and Employees outlines exemptions to reporting requirements for friends as long as a gift is “commensurate with the occasion and the relationship,” which could likely apply given the decades-long friendship the two have had.

New York House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Thomas’s impeachment after ProPublica’s story was published.

“This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking – almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached,” the progressive firebrand wrote on Twitter. “Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights.”

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, also blasted Thomas and called for new legislation for judicial ethics for members of the Court.

“This is outrageous. I don’t care if you agree with Thomas’s politics. Congress cannot allow for judges to so brazenly flout conflict of interest rules,” he wrote on Twitter.

“There is a code of conduct that applies to all federal judges except 9. It’s no longer ok for the Supreme Court to be the only federal court without a binding ethical code,” Murphy wrote in a separate post. “For over a decade, every Congress I’ve introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act. It’s time to pass it.”

Conservatives and Republicans rushed to defend Thomas from this latest attack.

“Clarence Thomas is one of the greatest SCOTUS Justices in American history,” the Heritage Foundation wrote. “By the Left’s standards, he should be lauded as an American icon for his triumph over poverty & actual systemic racism. Instead, they despise him for breaking free from the deceptions of their worldview.”

Filmmaker and conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza wrote: “Laughably stupid. He vacations with a rich friend, who also pays for dinner! Is this the best they’ve got? Clarence Thomas’ real offense is being black and conservative.”

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