Clarence Thomas, an American lawyer and associate judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, was born on June 23, 1948. He has been in office since 1991 and was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to replace Thurgood Marshall.
The Court’s longest-serving member since Anthony Kennedy’s retirement in 2018 and the oldest member of the Court since Stephen Breyer’s retirement in 2022 is Thomas, the second African American to hold that position after Marshall.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
According to a report released on 6 April 2023 Thursday, US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had been taking lavish vacations offered to him by a rich Republican for years. Private jet travel between states and sailing in New Zealand were among the offerings.
Thomas, the court’s senior justice and a fervent conservative, took one trip to Indonesia that alone cost about $500,000 and was funded by real estate tycoon Harlan Crow, according to a report by the non-profit news organization ProPublica.
After hearing the specifics of ProPublica’s research, the legal reform advocacy group Fix the Court declared that “the Supreme Court is the least accountable component of our government.” The investigation was based on analyses of images, interviews, and other records.
The group’s head, Gabe Roth, stated in a statement that “nothing is going to change without a fundamental, lawmaker-led reinvention of its obligations when it comes to basic measures of monitoring.”
The 74-year-old judge also traveled with Crow, whose relationship with the justice was described by the New York Times as “unique and ethically sensitive” in 2011, on trips to a California all-male wilderness lodge, as well as to locations in New York and Texas, over the course of two decades.
Crow claimed in a statement to ProPublica that the gifts he offered Thomas were “no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other beloved friends” and that the two never addressed any active legal matters.
Thomas Makes A Declaration
Thomas issued a statement defending his refusal to disclose the visits after the situation erupted. He claimed that Crow and his wife Kathy were “dearest friends” and that they had long traveled with Crow.
Supreme court justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas for over 20 years
BREAKING: Republican Donor Harlan Crow has been giving millions of dollars to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas for over 20 years, off the books, under the table.
ProPublica just discovered that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife… pic.twitter.com/4Id6l6xogU
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) April 6, 2023
“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” said Thomas.
“I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
Judge’s Actions Are Not In Line With Ethical Principles
According to ProPublica, Crow donated more than $10 million to Republican political organizations, including a half-million dollars to a right-wing lobbying organization that Ginni Thomas, Thomas’ wife, created.
Following allegations that Ginni Thomas was involved in Donald Trump’s attempts to fraudulently change the results of the 2020 presidential election, her involvement in American politics has come under closer examination.
Justice Thomas was appointed to the bench in 1991 following a confirmation hearing during which he was accused of s*xual h@r@ssment by a former staffer.
He sided with the majority of judges who rendered the historic decision in favor of overturning the right to abortion last year. He added that a court with a conservative majority needed to review its decisions on same-s*x unions and contraception. You can go for the wealth of some famous actorsMolly Shannon’s Net Worth.
Senator Richard Durbin of the Democratic Party responded to the news on Thursday by saying that Thomas’s “behavior is plainly inconsistent with the ethical norms the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Judge on the Supreme Court.”
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