ProPublica has reported that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas secretly accepted extravagant gifts from a Texas real estate magnate for two decades without disclosing them. Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor, treated Thomas and his wife Ginni to free trips on his private jet and 162-foot superyacht in an apparent violation of a post-Watergate financial disclosure law. Thomas said he will comply with new rules set in March by the Judicial Conference that requires federal judges and Supreme Court justices to report gifts.

Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence argues it’s time to consider impeaching Justice Thomas because this is only the latest in a series of alleged scandals tied to him.

Moira Smith, she was the vice president and general counsel at Alaska-based energy company called like, I think it’s Enstar National Corporation [Enstar Natural Gas Company]. Well she told the National Law Journal that the justice squeezed her butt the first time she met him when she was just 23 years old. 

And additionally, the antics of the justice’s wife, Ginni Thomas, well those are extremely problematic and they give good reason to question his impartiality on the bench. For example, in January 2022, well, Justice Thomas was the lone vote trying to block the public from knowing more about those who advanced the insurrection, which we now know would have included his wife Ginni who had exchanged a host of text messages with leaders and former President Donald Trump’s administration. 

The woman advocated to overthrow the U.S. government in the wake of Joseph Robinette being elected to the White House. And now to learn that Thomas was enjoying extravagant trips — everywhere from California to Indonesia to New Zealand and beyond — for more than, what, 30 years? But the justice never said anything about it, except for the one trip he disclosed in 1997. Give me a break.

And of course, the justice says that he didn’t say anything because he didn’t think he had to tell the world that he was accepting these things of considerable value from a GOP fundraiser for almost three decades. Thomas said it was nothing more than millions of dollars in hospitality from a close family friend. Mind you, this is a friend that Thomas evidently made after becoming a justice with a lifetime appointment on the most powerful court in the country. So let’s just call it what it is — paid access to power. You can’t tell me that the things of value Thomas enjoyed from his billionaire buddy Crow didn’t influence his decisions on the bench. Just like you can’t tell me that Ginni Thomas’ conservative activism has played no role in his rulings.