S/V Sundance: Justice Thomas keeps giving us more and more reasons to pass this legislation.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Justice Thomas keeps giving us more and more reasons to pass this legislation.

Another piece of the ever-evolving Justice Clarence Thomas jigsaw puzzle just clicked into place.

This week ProPublica reported that in 2000, Justice Clarence Thomas was in debt, and complained to a Republican congressman about his "modest" $173,600 salary (more than $300,000 in today's dollars) and lifestyle on the Supreme Court. (Not long before this conversation, Justice Thomas had borrowed $267,000 from a wealthy friend to buy a high-end RV.)

He told the congressman that Supreme Court justices should get a raise, or else "one or more justices will leave soon." He was looking for other ways to juice his income, too — like removing a ban on justices giving paid speeches.

This conversation apparently had Republicans scared that Justice Thomas would resign. After the conversation Justice Thomas received a letter from the congressman that said, "I intend to look into a bill to raise the salaries of members of The Supreme Court. As we agreed, it is worth a lot to Americans to have the constitution properly interpreted. We must have the proper incentives here, too." In other words: Message received.

And lo and behold, Republican billionaires were happy to give him a lavish lifestyle so he wouldn't resign from the Supreme Court.

In the years that followed, he infamously received undisclosed gifts and favors spanning from superyacht rides to private jet flights to stays at high-end resorts to premium suites at sporting events — to private boarding school tuition covered for his grandnephew and his family's real estate properties being bought and renovated.

It's corruption, plain and simple.

Allowing the rich and powerful to give secret gifts to Supreme Court justices undermines our judicial system's ideal of Equal Justice Under Law. And, keeping some of these gifts and favors undisclosed is against the law.

I'm still fighting to make Supreme Court justices follow a basic code of ethics, including tightening rules on gifts like the ones Justice Thomas has been showered with. It's all part of my work to root corruption out of Washington and make our government work for everyone, not just the rich and powerful.

And grassroots donors make it possible for me to stay in the fight to advocate for these plans. Can you pitch in $28 or any amount to our re-election campaign? Every donation powers our movement to root out corruption in Washington and put our government on the side of working people.

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I'm going to keep pushing what my Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act would accomplish — because it's important we spread awareness about this plan, and Justice Thomas just keeps giving us more and more reasons to pass it.

Here's some of what this plan would do:

Make the Supreme Court follow a binding Code of Conduct
Ban federal judges from owning or trading individual stocks
Tighten restrictions on gifts and privately funded travel (yes, Justice Clarence Thomas, I'm looking at you)
Overhaul the broken recusal process (once again looking at you, Justice Thomas, after you didn't recuse yourself from a case around the insurrection that could possibly have had consequences for your wife)
Create new tools to hold judges accountable for ethical misconduct

Meanwhile, I'm also fighting to…

Ban all individual stock ownership by members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, senior congressional staff, federal judges, White House staff, and other senior agency officials while in office
End lobbying as we know it
Padlock the revolving door between big businesses and our government
Limit the influence of private defense contractors on our military
Keep big bank executives off Federal Reserve Bank boards of directors
Create a new, independent anti-corruption agency dedicated to enforcing federal ethics laws
And more

I'm not alone in this fight. I've got some terrific partners in Washington. And I know that I'm fighting alongside you too.

Together, we can remove the toxic influence that big money has on our government. And we can pass policies that put power in the hands of working people, where it belongs.

I'll keep fighting to root corruption out of our federal judiciary, and I need you in this fight by my side. If you're able, can you please chip in $28 or anything you can to support our campaign? This issue is powerfully important to our democracy, and your support helps ensure we can keep fighting to pass this plan.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth