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ProPublica reports:
In early January 2000, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends.
At the resort, Thomas gave a speech at an off-the-record conservative conference. He found himself seated next to a Republican member of Congress on the flight home. The two men talked, and the lawmaker left the conversation worried that Thomas might resign. Congress should give Supreme Court justices a pay raise, Thomas told him. If lawmakers didn’t act, “one or more justices will leave soon” — maybe in the next year.
Congress never lifted the ban on speaking fees or gave the justices a major raise. But in the years that followed, as ProPublica has reported, Thomas accepted a stream of gifts from friends and acquaintances that appears to be unparalleled in the modern history of the Supreme Court.
Read the full article.
A “delicate matter.” Hundreds of thousands in debt, Thomas privately told a GOP lawmaker that Congress should give SCOTUS justices a pay raise. If not, “one or more justices will leave soon.”
For years after, Thomas accepted a stream of luxury gifts. https://t.co/ytEtgTQUOj
— Brett Murphy (@BrettMmurphy) December 18, 2023
Clarence Thomas threatened to quit SCOTUS unless he could get rich, so Republican politicians arranged for billionaires to start inundating him with money and gifts in exchange for his continued service. He gladly accepted the trade-off. https://t.co/AIVt3gBXSl
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) December 18, 2023
NEW: In 2000, Clarence Thomas was deep in debt.
He met w/ a GOP Congressman & complained about his salary.
The GOP started to fear he’d leave the court.
In the years that followed, billionaires lavished him w/ secret gifts.https://t.co/uLSfv8rmnp pic.twitter.com/d44z1OwxV7
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) December 18, 2023