Following the Supreme Court’s first attempt at instituting a Code of Conduct, which it claimed to already abide by and lacks any enforcement mechanism, we thought you would be interested in a sampling of the ways Justice Clarence Thomas has blatantly violated it over the years:
Justice Clarence Thomas’ Code of Conduct Violations
Code of Conduct: “B. OUTSIDE INFLUENCE. … A Justice should neither knowingly lend the prestige of the judicial office to advance the private interests of the Justice or others nor knowingly convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the Justice.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: “He has granted it unusual access to the Supreme Court, where every year he presides over the group’s signature event: a ceremony in the courtroom at which he places Horatio Alger medals around the necks of new lifetime members.” [New York Times, 7/09/23]
Code of Conduct: “C. NONDISCRIMINATORY MEMBERSHIP. A Justice should not hold membership in any organization that practices invidious discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: “Thomas’ involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who’ve spent time with him there.” [Propublica, 9/22/23]
Code of Conduct: “The Justice or the Justice’s spouse, or a person related to either within the third degree of relationship, or the spouse of such person, is known by the Justice: …(iii) to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: “The texts were among about 9,000 pages of documents that Mr. Meadows turned over to the congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack. Democrats immediately seized on the disclosure to draw attention to the conflicts they said were presented by Ms. Thomas’s political activities and to press Justice Thomas to recuse himself from cases concerning the election and its aftermath. … But Justice Thomas did participate in a ruling in January on an emergency application from Mr. Trump asking the court to block release of White House records concerning the attack on the Capitol.” [New York Times, 3/25/22]
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Justice Thomas Violation: “Two months before the Citizens United decision, but after the justices had signaled their intentions by requesting new arguments, attorney Cleta Mitchell … filed papers for Ginni Thomas to create a nonprofit group of a type that ultimately benefited from the decision. Leo was one of two directors listed on a separate application to conduct business in the state of Virginia. Thomas was president. She signed it on New Year’s Eve of 2009, and Crow provided much of the initial cash.” [Politico, 9/10/23]
Code of Conduct: “A Justice should keep informed about the Justice’s personal and fiduciary financial interests and make a reasonable effort to keep informed about the personal financial interests of the Justice’s spouse and minor children residing in the Justice’s household.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: “Mrs. Thomas said, … ‘We have our separate professional lives.’” [New York Times, 12/12/00]
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Justice Thomas Violation: “Through a decades-long career in conservative politics, Virginia Thomas has repeatedly maintained that her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. … “But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work.” [AP, 3/25/22]
Code of Conduct: “A Justice should not speak to or participate in a meeting organized by a group if the Justice knows that the group has a substantial financial interest in the outcome of a case that is before the Court or is likely to come before the Court in the near future. … A Justice should not: … (2) make speeches for a political organization … or (3) solicit funds for, pay an assessment to, or make a contribution to a political organization or candidate, or attend or purchase a ticket for a dinner or other event sponsored by a political organization or candidate.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events [ProPublica, 9/22/23]
Code of Conduct: “A Justice may attend a “fundraising event” of lawrelated or other nonprofit organizations, but a Justice should not knowingly be a speaker, a guest of honor, or featured on the program of such event.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: “He has granted it unusual access to the Supreme Court, where every year he presides over the group’s signature event: a ceremony in the courtroom at which he places Horatio Alger medals around the necks of new lifetime members.” [New York Times, 7/09/23]
Code of Conduct: “A Justice should comply with the restrictions on acceptance of gifts and the prohibition on solicitation of gifts set forth in the Judicial Conference Regulations on Gifts now in effect.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: A guide to the friends and patrons of Clarence and Ginni Thomas [Washington Post, 11/09/23]
Code of Conduct: “A Justice should endeavor to prevent any member of the Justice’s family residing in the household from soliciting or accepting a gift except to the extent that a Justice would be permitted to do so by the Judicial Conference Gift Regulations. A “member of the Justice’s family” means any relative of a Justice by blood, adoption, or marriage, or any person treated by a Justice as a member of the Justice’s family.”
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Justice Thomas Violation: Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni’ [Washington Post, 5/04/23]
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Justice Thomas Violation: “[Ginni] Thomas signs paperwork to incorporate in VA listing Leonard Leo as a director. Harlan Crow donates $500,000 in seed money in the following weeks.” [Politico, 9/10/23]
End Citizens United // Let America Vote Action Fund has been leading calls for Congress to pass the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, & Transparency (SCERT) Act. For a list of exposés detailing corruption and the justices’ financial conflicts of interests, click here.
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