Just how corrupt is Trump’s Supreme Court majority?
U.S. Supreme Court justices have received
millions of dollars in gifts over the past two decades—with far-right
Justice Clarence Thomas being the main
beneficiary of this largesse, according to a detailed analysis published
Thursday.
By Clay Bennett
The advocacy group Fix the Court published
a database listing
546 total gifts valued at over $4.7 million given to 18 current and former
justices mostly between 2004 and 2023, as identified by the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission (FTC). The database also lists "likely" gifts received by
the justices and their estimated values, bringing the grand total to 672 gifts
valued at nearly $6.6 million.
The database was published a day before the
justices are expected to release their financial disclosure reports.
"Supreme Court justices should not be
accepting gifts, let alone the hundreds of freebies worth millions of dollars
they've received over the years," Fix the Court executive director
Gabe Roth said in a statement Thursday.
Thomas led the pack with 193 FTC-identified gifts collectively valued at over $4 million. Of these, he listed only 27 in financial disclosure reports.
According to Fix the Court, Thomas' gifts
consisted mainly of free trips to
Bohemian Grove—a secretive, men-only retreat in Northern California—and Topridge, the private
lakeside resort in upstate New York owned by billionaire Republican
megadonor Harlan Crow.
By dollar amount, the late Justice Antonin
Scalia came in a distant second with 67 gifts worth over $210,000 combined,
while Justice Samuel Alito took 16 gifts valued collectively at just over
$170,000. At the low end of the database, Justice Brett Kavanaugh received a
single gift worth $100, while former Justice David Souter was also given one
gift with a value of $349.
According to the analysis:
The tally includes the amount of principal and interest—$253,686—we believe Tony Welters forgave in 2008 for the luxury RV he gifted to Thomas the decade before. FTC's numbers include the tuition gifts, $144,400 across six years, Thomas received for his grandnephew...
It captures
the value of Thomas' yacht trips to Russia, the Greek Isles, and Indonesia, as
well as some new information on the Thomas flights Tony Novelly paid for and
the Scalia and Alito fishing trips Robin Arkley paid for that's included in
the congressional record.
The value of the gifts Scalia received on his ill-fated trip to Marfa, Texas,
in 2016 are also included.
"Public servants who make four times
the median local salary, and who can make millions writing books on any topic
they like, can afford to pay for their own vacations, vehicles, hunting
excursions, and club memberships," said Roth, "to say nothing of the
influence the gift-givers are buying with their 'generosity.'"
"The ethics crisis at the court won't
begin to abate until justices adopt stricter gift acceptance rules," he
added.
Thomas' gifts from billionaire Republican
donors—and his refusal to report them—have fueled calls for his recusal from some
cases and even resignation.
Following intense public pressure, the
Supreme Court last November announced it had formally adopted a code of conduct
that was promptly slammed as a
"toothless PR stunt" by the watchdog Revolving Door Project and others.
"Headline after headline about Supreme
Court justices accepting lavish vacations and eye-poppingly expensive gifts is
bound to erode trust in the court," U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said on social media Wednesday. "We
need to pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and
Transparency Act and enforce a real code of ethics."
Fix the Court and other groups also support
the Supreme Court Ethics and
Investigations Act, which was introduced earlier
this week by Congressman Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and would create a Supreme Court
Office of Investigative Counsel tasked with investigating ethical improprieties
and reporting them to Congress.
Reacting to the new analysis, the
pro-democracy group Stand Up America said, "The Supreme Court's gifts
shouldn't be a secret—Congress must pass a binding code of ethics now."