(LR) U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 10, 2017 in Washington, DC Attend the judicial swearing-in ceremony for Judge Neil Gorsuch.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted millions of dollars worth of gifts on the bench over the past two decades, a total worth nearly as much as all gifts received by other justices during the same period, according to a report. ten times. New analysis.
The justice reform group said Thomas received 103 gifts between 2004 and 2023, with a total value of more than $2.4 million. Repair the court said a report on Thursday.
By comparison, Thomas’ fellow judges accepted a total of only 93 gifts during the same period, with a total value of only about $248,000, according to the nonprofit.
Thomas’ fellow conservative judge Samuel Alito accounted for the lion’s share of that value. Fix The court’s analysis found that Alito accepted 16 gifts worth a total of $170,000.
Fix The court also identified 101 other “possible gifts” Thomas received from billionaire Harlan Crow – with a total estimated value of nearly $1.8 million – as well as a property in Bohemian Grove (Bohemian Grove) Free travel and accommodation at the exclusive club.
Including these gifts, Thomas’ total income over 20 years is close to $4.2 million.
Fix the Court’s analysis is largely based on ProPublica’s investigative reporting over the past year, which focused on Thomas and Alito and sparked calls for ethics reform on the Supreme Court.
The organization also considered data from congressional records, judges’ annual financial disclosures, other news sources and its own law clerk-led research.
The value and quantity of the gifts Thomas received also exceed those received by eight retired or deceased Supreme Court justices whose terms overlapped with his tenure on the court, which began in 1991.
The late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who served on the court for more than 34 years until her retirement in early 2006, received 73 gifts, ranking second behind Thomas in total gifts. two.
But O’Connor’s gifts totaled less than $36,000.
Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on the court in 2016, accepted 67 gifts worth about $210,000 during his tenure, which began in 1986.
During his 33-year career on the court, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist accepted only six gifts totaling less than $13,000 as of 2005.
“Supreme Court justices should not accept gifts, let alone the hundreds of freebies worth millions of dollars they have received over the years,” Fix the Court executive director Gabe Roth said in a statement.
“Unless judges adopt stricter rules on gift acceptance, the ethical crisis in the courts will not begin to abate,” Ross said.
Fix The court noted that its calculation of the total value of the gifts may have been lower than the actual value because the analysis incorrectly accounted for the low end of the cost of certain gifts, such as free travel or tickets to sporting events.
Its statistics also make some assumptions. For example, the organization assumes a private jet costs $10,000 per hour to fly and counts each leg of a round-trip flight as a separate gift.
The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Fix the Court’s findings.
ProPublica first revealed that Thomas accepted luxury trips from Crow, a Republican megadonor, over the years but failed to report them in his financial disclosures, which ethics experts said he was required to do.
Thomas said his judicial colleagues told him that he No need to disclose Those travel expenses.
Still, the analysis provides fodder for the court’s increasingly vocal critics, who are calling for reform in the wake of a series of politically inflammatory rulings and ongoing ethics scandals.
The court under Chief Justice John Roberts has made some concessions, including adopting a formal (albeit unenforceable) ethics rule in November.
In the document, the court aimed to “dispel the misunderstanding” among the court’s nine judges “that they believe they are not bound by any moral rules.”
Meanwhile, the federal judiciary implemented new rules this year requiring Supreme Court justices to disclose travel related gifts on their financial disclosure form.
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