Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the US Supreme Court, listens during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing new pressure on many fronts, following a new one reporting about his financial history and as House Democrats urge his denial of former President Donald Trump’s election interference case.
Democrats cited the court’s new ethics code by pointing to the actions of Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, and her reported efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election.
The split-screen investigation highlights the unique combination of influence and independence wielded by the powerful conservative justice, the most senior member of the nation’s highest court.
Investigative news outlet ProPublica revealed Monday that Thomas told a Republican lawmaker in 2000 that Congress should raise the salaries of Supreme Court justices.
Thomas, who was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at the time, said “one or more justices will be out soon” if that action isn’t taken, ProPublica reported.
Congressman Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns, was reportedly worried about the conversation. “His importance as a conservative is paramount,” Stearns told ProPublica in a recent interview. “We want to make sure he’s comfortable in his job and that he’s paid well.”
Stearns later wrote to Thomas that he intended to “look into a bill to raise the salaries of the members of the Supreme Court.”
“As we have agreed, it is very important to the American people to have a proper interpretation of the constitution. We must also have the proper incentives here,” Stearns wrote in a Jan. 11, 2000, letter.
In other private conversations around the same time, Thomas discussed lifting a longstanding ban on justices giving paid speeches, ProPublica reported, citing a memo to Chief Justice William Rehnquist from a top judicial officer.
Official L. Ralph Mecham noted in the memo that the likely “main beneficiaries” of a plan to raise the salaries of justices “who may leave the Court” are Thomas and Justice Antonin Scalia, another staunch conservative.
Congress ultimately did not lift the ban on speaking fees and did not approve a large increase in the justices’ salaries. Neither Thomas nor Scalia, who died in 2016, retired from the court.
Thomas’ salary in 2000 was $173,600; the associate justice salary in 2023 is $285,400. The latter number is a lower salary than the one from 2000, when adjusted for inflation.
The Supreme Court did not immediately comment on the article, which follows a spate of other recent reporting by ProPublica and others about Thomas’ financial and ethical history on the court.
Thomas, who was appointed to the high court in 1991 by then-President George HW Bush, has been criticized for his acceptance of lucrative gifts. Among those were years of luxury trips from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, which were not reported in Thomas’ financial disclosures.
The Senate Judiciary Committee last month voted to authorize subpoenas for Crow and prominent conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo. Republicans on the Democrat-led panel protested the vote, accusing the majority of playing politics to try to undermine the court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority.
A spokesman for the Judiciary Chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois declined to comment on ProPublica’s latest report.
Recusal Request
Meanwhile, a group of eight House Democrats is pushing Thomas to recuse himself from one of the most closely watched matters on the Supreme Court: a bid by special counsel Jack Smith to quickly strike down Trump’s claim of “presidential immunity” in his federal election interference case. .
Democrats argued that the involvement of Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, in efforts to challenge the 2020 election results raised “serious questions” about the justice’s ability to “be or be impartial.” in cases concerning the election or the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
“We strongly urge you to use your discretion and recuse yourself from this and any other decisions” in Trump’s case, the Democrats written in a letter to Thomas.
Smith’s office is prosecuting Trump in Washington, DC, federal court on charges of conspiracy to reverse his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, is appealing a recent ruling by a US district judge rejecting his claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution for most of the actions taken during he is president
Rather than allow the appeal to work its way through the DC Circuit Court of Appeals — and then likely be appealed again to the Supreme Court — Smith on Dec. 11 asked the high court to take over the case.
“It is of great public importance that respondent’s immunity claims be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as soon as possible if his immunity claim is denied,” Smith wrote.
Trump is due to file a response to Smith’s petition on Wednesday.
The letter from Democrats, led by Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia and dated Friday, refers to the new code of conduct signed by the justices last month.
The code advises a justice to “disqualify himself from a proceeding in which the impartiality of the Justice may reasonably be questioned.”
Ginni Thomas was “intimately involved in Mr. Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election and to obstruct its certification — the very conspiracies at issue in this case,” wrote the Democratic.
They cited reporting that Ginni Thomas sent texts urging then-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows to work to overturn Biden’s victory, and expressed similar sentiments among key state lawmakers.
Thomas has given no indication that he plans to recuse himself in the Trump case.
The court, which has faced criticism and low public approval, said it issued the code to “dispel” any “misunderstanding” that the court’s nine justices are not bound by ethics rules.
Some critics quickly panned the code for its lack of any enforcement mechanism or outside authority.
