# Clarence Thomas secretly accepted luxury vacations from GOP donor without disclosing **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 6, 2023, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252 "2023-04-06T14:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/81 "2023-04-09T16:21:01Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > That just…makes him seem like a [Bond villain](https://youtu.be/r4FA8nSRAcQ&t=38s). Don’t go there - I was talking to a friend recently that the late 90s Bond movies seemed to be struggling to find their ‘place’ with villains. Russia wasn’t quite the villain it was in the past, and it bounced between various overwrought tech / corporate villains. Just wasn’t quite the same. And things got better with the Craig iteration (at least the first few). And in the last 5 years especially, I see the new Uber-Evil Russia with cartoonishly evil Putin, and Elon Musk being just childishly evil (if thankfully, with fewer guns than Putin) and think - was the earlier Bond just ahead of it’s time? Back to the subject of Mr. Thomas - after reading Stranger’s post, I flashed to the scene in GoldenEye where the older Russian general was having… dangerous fun with the Femme Fatale Onatopp and found it terrifyingly easy to put Thomas in that role. Have all the fun, who cares if you have responsibilities and duty - those aren’t important! ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/82 "2023-04-09T17:25:54Z")
I get that we love to drag Clarence Thomas, but SC justices have been accepting free travel from rich people for decades, including RBG. This story is going nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/83 "2023-04-09T18:02:59Z")
> [@Kyomara](#): > > I get that we love to drag Clarence Thomas, but SC justices have been accepting free travel from rich people for decades, including RBG. The issue isn’t accepting free travel so other gives but the required disclosures. For your edification: > **[The Justices' Latest Financial Disclosure Reports (2021), Plus Links to...](https://fixthecourt.com/2023/02/the-justices-latest-financial-disclosure-reports-2021-plus-links-to-earlier-ones/)** > > Fix the Court expects the 2022 reports to be released the week of June 12, 2023. Chief Justice John Roberts Justice Clarence Thomas Justice Stephen Breyer Justice Samuel Alito Justice Sonia Sotomayor Justice Elena Kagan Justice Neil Gorsuch Justice... Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/84 "2023-04-09T18:32:17Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The issue isn’t accepting free travel so other gives but the required disclosures. For your edification: From your cite, Neil Gorsuch declared that he had received $700 cowboy boots as a gift. Disclosure matters! Meanwhile, that cite led me down a rabbit hole where I found information about Clarence’s wife’s lobbying firm, Liberty Consulting, and this billionaire friend of the family. > [@](#): > > Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, has recast herself yet again, this time as the head of a firm, Liberty Consulting, which boasts on its [website](http://libertyinc.co/site/about)using her “experience and connections” to help clients “with “governmental affairs efforts” and [political donation strategies](http://libertyinc.co/site/services)… > > the Thomases came under particular scrutiny after [POLITICO revealed](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39426.html) that, while the Supreme Court was deliberating over the Citizens United case, Liberty Central [had received](http://www.politico.com/static/PPM156_liberty_central.html) a $550,000 anonymous contribution… > > POLITICO has learned, for instance, that the initial $500,000 contribution came from Dallas real estate investor Harlan Crow, a major GOP donor who held an event for Liberty Central at his home a few months after the group launched. He also once gave Justice Thomas a $19,000 “Frederick Douglass Bible” as a gift and donated $150,000 to build a new wing named for Thomas on a Savannah, Ga., library that Clarence Thomas visited frequently in his youth. > **[Justice Thomas's wife now lobbyist](https://www.politico.com/story/2011/02/justice-thomass-wife-now-lobbyist-048812)** > > The Supreme Court justice's wife sparks controversy again with her latest career incarnation. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/85 "2023-04-09T18:50:18Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > From your cite, Neil Gorsuch declared that he had received $700 cowboy boots as a gift. Disclosure matters! Stealth brag on on his two-step expertise. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/86 "2023-04-09T18:54:16Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Neil Gorsuch declared that he had received $700 cowboy boots as a gift Unlike Thomas, he simply declared and disclosed the footwear without any useless yammering or self-justification on the subject. In other words, he’s all boots and no prattle. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/87 "2023-04-09T18:55:15Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > In other words, he’s all boots and no prattle. 👍 👍 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/88 "2023-04-09T19:27:17Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > In other words, he’s all boots and no prattle. \*golf clap\* Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/89 "2023-04-09T20:05:22Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > I had an absurd mental image where it’d never stop. We’d have hundreds of millions of Supreme Court justices. _And every judge working/ is a Slim Shady lurking…_ ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/90 "2023-04-09T20:13:25Z")
Thomas says he was advised it was okay. So, nothing to see here, m’kay? : : It’s always nice when donors also give advice. But seriously, Thomas is now going to follow future guidance. So, nothing to see here, m’kay? : : Oh very well. How would Canada or other countries handle these issues of pure friendship and potential secondary meetings with anyone? I mean as a judge, not as a Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/91 "2023-04-09T20:38:51Z")
Sure, but “everybody does it, he just didn’t report it” is a story that is going absolutely nowhere. There are many things about Clarence Thomas that make him barely fit for humanity, let alone the bench, but this is a story for people who already hate him to sit around and talk more about how much they hate him, to zero effect. Personally I don’t care that Clarence Thomas took a bunch of free trips and didn’t declare them. I care that he’s subhuman trash and has real power over the lives of people with far less power than he has. It makes me sad and tired to watch everyone spin their wheels about another small outrage. Which is on me, I guess. I don’t have to look. I guess I’m not even really arguing with you. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/92 "2023-04-09T21:34:32Z")
> [@Kyomara](#): > > Sure, but “everybody does it, he just didn’t report it” is a story that is going absolutely nowhere. There are many things about Clarence Thomas that make him barely fit for humanity, let alone the bench, but this is a story for people who already hate him to sit around and talk more about how much they hate him, to zero effect. It’s a grotesque breach of ethics by a guy who likes to lecture other people about ethics. Will the hypocrisy sway conservatives to reconsider their support for him? No, not any more than revelations of Bill Clinton’s history of predatory sexual harassment and assault caused Clinton-loving liberals to consider theirs (at least, not until sexual abuse by powerful male figures became a bellwether cause, and even now he is scarcely being shunned). In any case, Thomas won’t be impeached and removed from the Supreme Court because he is giving the ascending proto-fascists exactly what they want, which should be a cautionary tale to anyone who believes that “the [federal] courts” will hold back that tide even if they aren’t conversant to how the Nazi regime took over the courts in post-Weimar Germany. In any case, there is a qualitative difference between Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Clarence Thomas, which should be a surprise to exactly nobody who has studied both of their careers and opinions. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/93 "2023-04-09T21:36:33Z")
And the same people that are defending him are accusing a NYC judge of not being impartial because he made a $15 donation to a Democratic political candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/94 "2023-04-09T21:38:12Z")
I’m unclear on this aspect: is anything about his failure to report actually illegal? Should he have, for example, reported these trips and gifts on his income tax forms? Will this asshole at least be audited? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/95 "2023-04-09T22:11:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m unclear on this aspect: is anything about his failure to report actually illegal? Should he have, for example, reported these trips and gifts on his income tax forms? They’re not income or taxable cash gifts, and so are not reportable to the IRS. This is a breach of ethics per the financial disclosure requirements set by the Judicial Conference of the United States Committee on Financial Disclosure (part of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts), and so are really an administrative violation rather than a law. Technically, such a breach could be subject to impeachment and removal by the US Senate (good luck with that) but there is really no other way to remove or penalize a justice who breaks those rules. [edit] It looks like the Conference updated the rules to clarify disclosure requirements. Again, good luck with that: > **[Supreme Court justices under new ethics disclosures on trips, other gifts](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/03/28/supreme-court-disclosures-trips-gifts/)** > > Supreme Court justices and all federal judges must provide a fuller public accounting of free trips, meals and other gifts they accept from corporations or organizations, according to revised regulations quietly adopted this month. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/96 "2023-04-09T23:02:57Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > “My friend told me it was okay”. Maybe he had a flashback and thought he was being called before the principal in grade school. That’s some weak shit for a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE! He might as well have said “IANAL” 🤨 Don’t forget he has not named this supposed person, that gave him this criminal advice, and that he wants to deflect all the blame to. So, in the analogy, it should be more like “An older boy made me do it”. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/97 "2023-04-09T23:40:16Z")
A political analyst at CNN says this should be the last straw: > The ProPublica report [revealed](https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow) Thomas’s troubling ties to Harlan Crow, a major Republican donor. According to the report, Thomas has enjoyed a number of benefits over the past 20-odd years of their relationship, including cruises on Crow’s 162-foot yacht, stays at Crow’s properties in the Adirondacks and East Texas, and use of Crow’s private jet. According to the report, “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.” Of course there is no way that Republicans would remove a reliable wingnut and allow a vacancy to be filled by a Biden nominee, so Thomas is safe no matter what he did or what he ever does in the future. Such is the sorry state of American democracy. [https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/opinions/clarence-thomas-scotus-ethics-zelizer/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/opinions/clarence-thomas-scotus-ethics-zelizer/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/98 "2023-04-10T00:15:59Z")
Politicians sometimes ask for advice from an “integrity commissioner” or whatnot. Does such a resource exist for judges or are they assumed to act to avoid the appearance of impropriety? In Canada, there was a judge who was allegedly hit by a drunk marine while on vacation, though some reports proffer a different story. After a complaint he oddly remains on leave which is said to likely influence some future cases. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/99 "2023-04-10T00:38:56Z")
Clarence’s ability to read and understand these disclosure laws appears to be endemic. In 2011, he had to amend 20 years of disclosures due to more intrepid reporting. > [@](#): > > Supreme Court Justice [Clarence Thomas](http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/popup?id=3665914) amended 20 years worth of financial disclosure forms today after a liberal watchdog group questioned the omission of his wife’s place of employment. > > “It has come to my attention that information regarding my spouse’s employment required in Part III B of my financial disclosure report was inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions,” [Thomas](http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3664143&page=1) wrote in a letter to the committee that handles the reports. > **[Justice Clarence Thomas Amends 20 Years of Disclosure Forms With Wife's...](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/Supreme_Court/justice-clarence-thomas-amends-financial-disclosure-reports-virginia/story?id=12750650)** > > Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas amended 20 years worth of financial disclosure forms today after a liberal watchdog group questioned the omission of his wife's place of employment. Apparently, the easiest way to launder your bribes is to just have people pay your wife. > [@](#): > > Thomas amended the reports today noting that his wife, [Virginia Thomas](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/controversy-virginia-thomas-website-pulls-memo-health-reform/story?id=11937027), drew income from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank where she worked from 1998 to 2003. Thomas also noted that she worked at Hillsdale College for three months in 2008. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252/100 "2023-04-10T00:53:34Z")
So it’s like this. “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.” But that’s OK, although blatantly illegal. The fact that Crow is a far-right neo-Nazi is OK, too. That Thomas’ wife has a long history of advocating for far-right causes and collects grift from far-right lobbyists is perfectly fine. That she participated in the Jan 6 insurrection is OK, too. But here’s where Republicans draw the line: the judge presiding over Trump’s 34 felony counts once contributed $15 to Biden’s campaign! That is a moral outrage that cannot stand! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarence-thomas-secretly-accepted-luxury-vacations-from-gop-donor-without-disclosing/982252.md?page=6)