Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s extravagant, luxury lifestyle is fueled by millions in gifts from billionaire benefactors, but a new study puts into context just how extreme the 75-year old jurist’s accumulation has been compared to all other justices who have served over the past two decades.
Fix The Court, a government watchdog that advocates for term limits and other court reforms, on Thursday published a report revealing the extent of Justice Thomas’ acceptance of what it calls “identified” and “likely” gifts, and compared that to all the other justices.
Calling the numbers “staggering,” Fix The Court (FTC) reports “in the last two decades (Jan. 2004-Dec. 2023), the justices have accepted 344 gifts valued at $2,993,036.”
But there’s more.
“If one includes another 101 gifts that Justice Thomas likely received over those 20 years — mostly comprising free trips to and free stays at Bohemian Grove and Topridge worth $1,787,684 — that number jumps to 445 gifts valued at $4,780,720.”
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And still more.
“All told, the number of gifts FTC identified that were accepted by the current nine, plus the eight who’ve left the court since 2004 (Justices Rehnquist, Stevens, O’Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer) is 546, valued at $4,755,147. Adding in Thomas’ 126 likely gifts since his confirmation, that tally comes to 672 gifts valued at $6,592,657.”
And even more.
According to Fix The Court’s publicly posted spreadsheet, tallying up all the gifts Justice Thomas accepted, including disclosed, identified, and “likely” gifts, based on their investigations and on news reports, Justice Thomas has accepted $5,879,796 worth of gifts.
Again, the total of all gifts all justices accepted, Fix The Court reports, including Justice Thomas’s: $6,592,657.
Fix The Court also focused on the number of gifts disclosed and not disclosed. Overall, just 28% of all gifts – in number, not dollar amounts – were disclosed by all the justices. Justice Thomas disclosed just 8.5%.
There is still more.
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FTC’s report Thursday comes “Ahead of tomorrow’s expected release of the justices’ financial disclosure reports.”
But since not all gifts are disclosed, FTC (and journalists) use various methods to calculate the value of gifts, including meals, flights, cruises, and more.
“The numbers are the numbers but on the low end,” FTC notes. “The total number and value of the gifts (672 / $6,592,507) is most likely an undercount. Based on ProPublica’s reporting, FTC calculated the number of visits to Topridge and Bohemian Grove, as well as free tickets to Dallas Cowboys and Florida Panthers games, for example, but erred on the low end.”
In case you’re wondering how the other justices rank in terms of the total value of all gives, apart from Justice Thomas who ranks number one at $5,879,796, here are the next three in ranked order:
The late Justice Anton Scalia: $175,861
Justice Samuel Alito: $170,095
Justice John Paul Stevens: $79,059
Supreme Court justices make $298,500 annually, and the Chief Justice makes $312,200.
Responding to data from the report, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote: “Clarence Thomas needs to resign. And the DOJ needs to investigate whether he’s violated the Ethics in Government Act.”
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