End Citizens United (ECU) // Let America Vote (LAV) today sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Justice requesting investigations into Justice Clarence Thomas’ unreported gifts and real estate sales. The request for investigations comes on the heels of a bombshell report from ProPublica detailing a decades-long improper relationship between Thomas and billionaire Harlan Crow.
“Throughout his career, Justice Thomas has vehemently opposed transparency measures aimed at rooting out corruption. It’s no surprise that he’s now at the center of one of the most damning scandals the Supreme Court has ever seen,” said ECU // LAV President Tiffany Muller. “For decades, he leveraged his position of power to enrich himself and his family with lavish vacations and home improvements. And we don’t know what his billionaire friend received in return.
Muller added, “Justice Thomas continues to make a mockery of ethics laws and guidelines designed to uphold the integrity of the Supreme Court. He lacks the objectivity and integrity needed to serve on the highest court in the land. He must be held accountable for these egregious violations. If not, Americans’ faith and trust in our institutions will only continue to deteriorate and cause irreparable damage to our democracy.”
Excerpt from the letter:
“We write to request that the Office of Government Ethics (“OGE”) and the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section investigate Justice Clarence Thomas’ failure to file accurate and complete financial disclosure reports as required by the Ethics in Government Act, as amended (the “Act”). Justices of the Supreme Court sit in a vaulted position of public trust. The duty to file accurate and complete financial disclosure reports detailing a public official’s gifts and financial transactions is the minimum ethical requirement for a member of the Court. It is also a legal requirement imposed by statute, which the Director of the OGE and the Attorney General are tasked with upholding. As you are likely aware, recent reporting by ProPublica revealed that over several decades Justice Thomas accepted lavish gifts from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow—including luxury travel on private jets, superyachts, and international and domestic vacations—the value of which extends into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Justice Thomas also sold Mr. Crow his mother’s home and two vacant residential lots he owned in Savannah, Georgia for over $130,000. However, in apparent violation of law, Justice Thomas never disclosed any of these gifts or the real estate transaction in his financial disclosure reports filed with the OGE.
Click here to read the letter.
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