Legal and political experts have erupted with disgust online Thursday after a report revealed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has participated in two Koch donor summits and ultimately aided the political network, which has appeared before the high court in multiple cases — including one of the most highly anticipated of the upcoming term — in its efforts to raise funding.
According to ProPublica, who conducted interviews with three former network employees and one major donor, Thomas has attended Koch donor events at least twice over the years with the justice, staffers said, being flown in to speak in hopes that it would encourage attendees to continue donating. Thomas did not report the 2018 flight he took to Palm Springs for the Koch organization's annual summit on his disclosure form, and a spokesperson for the network told ProPublica it did not pay for the jet.
As the outlet notes, Thomas' participation in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship he has with the networks founders — libertarian billionaires David and Charles Koch — that has largely remained out of the public eye and sprouted from years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive, all-men's retreat in Northern California Thomas has attended for two decades.
The revelation comes after ProPublica's previous reports have also shed light on the conservative justice's ties to GOP megadonor and billionaire Harlan Crow, who financed a number of luxury trips for Thomas across decades, paid private-school tuition for two years for the child Thomas raised and purchased property from Thomas — including his mother's home — in 2014.
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Thomas neglected to report these dealings with Crow in his annual financial disclosures but acknowledged in his most recent financial report that he took three trips aboard the billionaire's private plane last year and included amendments to reports filed between 2017 and 2021 to address matters he "inadvertently omitted."
Thomas' ties to billionaires whose political interests have been brought — if not also seen success — before the Supreme Court has sparked calls for the imposition of an ethics code on the justices and instilled doubt in the public's trust of the high court. The latest revelation has only bolstered those concerns with some experts and officials on Friday renewing calls for his resignation.
"Justice Clarence Thomas continues to bring shame upon himself and the United States Supreme Court," Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "He should resign. What are we going to find out next? A fundraiser for Trump headlined by Clarence Thomas? Ridiculous."
"Personally, I'd go right to resign. It's long overdue. And I'd revisit the cases he's decided—including Citizens United and Shelby v Holder, which together handed our democracy to the rich—while we're at it. Corruption of the highest order," said Boston College professor of 19th-century U.S. history Heather Cox Richardson, whose research focuses on American political history and ideology.
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Other experts have expressed outrage and further critiqued Thomas over his acceptance of gifts and failure to disclose them or recuse himself from relevant cases.
"The whole point of disclosing conflicts & recusing is to maintain public confidence in key democratic institutions, like the Court," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance tweeted. "It's clear that the integrity of the branch of gov't he serves in is not important to Justice Thomas."
"Clarence Thomas might not be the finest Justice money can buy, but he's definitely bought," attorney and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Moe Davis, said on X. "Imagine if Supreme Court justices were held to the same ethical standards we demand of a 21-year-old Army lieutenant."
"As a public servant who sacrifices donor $ (I don't take donations from elected officials, PBAs, or attorneys with cases before my office), b/c I believe the justice system should be free from even the appearance of political influence, this sickens me," added Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor and current district attorney for Westchester County, New York.
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