In November 1996, Emerge magazine titled Clarence Thomas as “Uncle Thomas: Lawn Jockey of the Far Rightâ€. Linda Greenhouse observed that Thomas voted with Scalia 91% of the time during the October Term 2006, and with Justice John Paul Stevens the least, 36% of the time. Biographer Jan Crawford noted that Scalia often joined Thomas instead of Thomas joining Scalia.
Wikipedia Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas for his whole life as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States has been in the pocket of the conservative far right. Thomas has devoted his allegiance to Leonard Leo and the Federal Society because they are the reason he became a justice of the Supreme Court. When Thomas’s nomination was in jeopardy it was Leonard Leo that came to his aid with a massive political campaign against Anita Hill who was a college professor with limited resources, to dis-credit her allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Hill requested to the staff of Senator Joe Biden, the chair of the committee, that her allegations be made anonymously if she chose to testify and that Thomas not be informed of them, which Biden declined. Hill then notified Democratic staff the day after the hearings had ended that she wished to make her allegations known to the committee.
Hill’s allegations were corroborated by Susan Hoerchner, a judge in California, who also wished to remain anonymous. Hoerchner called Harriet Grant, a chief council to Biden, to inform him of her allegations. She recalled that Thomas told Hill in an elevator at the EEOC that he would ruin her career if she spoke about his behavior. When Grant told Hilland Hoerchner that the FBI would be involved, they were reluctant to be investigated. Hill declined to speak with the FBI, as she feared it would misconstrue her words, so instead arranged to deliver a written statement. The statement described how Thomas pressured her to date him and included descriptions of him speaking about sexual interests involving pornographic films. Hill also alleged that Thomas spoke with about sex at work despite her being uncomfortable with the subject, adding, I sensed that my discomfort with his discussions only urged him on, as though my reaction of feeling ill at ease and vulnerable was what he wantedâ€. The FBI report of its investigation was not made public. The White House announced that the FBI had found the allegations “without foundationâ€. The use of the FBI was contentious in the Judiciary committee because it answers to the president, who was sponsoring Thomas. Joe Biden used the FBI instead of the committees’ investigators to avoid the appearance of partisanship.
In the evening, Thomas was recalled before the committee. He again denied the allegations and was prompted by Sentor Orrin Hatch’s questioning to launch a speech that criticized the proceeding as a “high-tech lynching for uppity blacks.†The speech resonated with Southern Blacks and stimulated Thomas supporters, with public opinion shifting in his favor afterward.
On October 13, Hill voluntarily took and passed a polygraph test, which her lawyer took as proof that she had been truthful about the harassment claims, even as the test was not admissible as evidence in court.
On October 15, 1991, the Senate voted to confirm Thomas as an associate justice, 52-48. Thomas received the votes of 41 Republicans and 11 Democrats, and two Republicans voted to reject his nomination. As of 2024, Thomas is the most recent Supreme Court justice to be confirmed by a Senate controlled by the opposing party of the appointing president. The vote to confirm Thomas was the narrowest margin for approval in more than 100 years.
Thomas has been the most willing of all justices on the court to overrule precedent; according to Scalia, “he does not believe in stare decisis, periodâ€. Thomas’s influence, particularly among conservatives, was perceived to have significantly increased during Donald Trump’s presidency. This is where Uncle Thomas made his “Bread and Butter†overruling existing precedent on long standing rulings because of oligarchs who had cases before the Supreme Court.
Nondisclosure of Finances
Thomas attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extra ordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the supreme Court.
Thomas’s involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch bothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s resort 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 reported that Thomas has accepted undisclosed luxury travel from Crow and a coterie of other ultrawealthy men. Crow also purchased Thomas’ mother’s home and paid for renovations along with purchasing additional property around the home. Thomas’s appearances were arranged with the help of Leonard Leo, the Federal Society leader, according to the former senior network employee. “Leonard was the conduit who would get himâ€. Republican Party support for combating climate change, once an issue that drew bipartisan concern.
The†full weight of the network†was thrown behind passing the 2017 Trump Tax Cut, securing a windfall for the Kochs and their donors. And the upcoming Supreme Court term could bring the network a victory it has pursued for years, overturning a major legal precedent known as Chevron.
While most Americans aren’t familiar with the 1984 case Chevron v. NRDC, it’s one of the Supreme Court’s most-cited decisions. Legal scholars sometimes mention it in the same breath as Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. In essence, Chevron is about government agencies’ ability to issue regulations. After a law is enacted, it’s generally up to agencies across the government to make detailed rules putting it into effect. The Chevron decision said courts should be hesitant to second-guess the agencies’ determinations. In the years that followed, judges cited Chevron in upholding rules that protect endangered species, speed up the approval process for new cellphone towers and grant benefits to coal miners suffering from black lungs.
In 2005, Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that expanded Chevron’s protections for government agencies. Ten years later, he was openly questioning the doctrine. Then in 2020, Thomas renounced his earlier decision, writing that he’d determined the doctrine is unconstitutional after all — a rare reversal for a justice with a reputation for being unmovable in his views.
The Koch ‘s access to Thomas has gone well beyond his participation in their donor events. For years, the brothers had opportunities to meet privately with Thomas thanks to the justice’s regular trips to Bohemian Grove, an all-male retreat that attracts some of the nation’s most influential corporate and political figures. Thomas has been a regular at the Groove for 25 years as Harlan Crow’s guest, according to internal documents and interviews with dozens of members, other guests and workers at the retreat.
Thomas has been taking bribes in the form of accepting luxury trips virtually every year from Crow for two decades and failed to report them. They included flights on Crow’s private jet, international cruises on Crow’s superyacht, and stays at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks and the private club Bohemian Grove. The Ethics in Government Act requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to annually disclose gifts they receive.
Spousal income and connections to cases have been redacted from the Justices’ ethical disclosure forms. In 2011, Politico reported that Crow gave $500,000 to a Tea Party group founded by Virgina Thomas his wife and he failed to report her income on his disclosure form for more than a decade. Also, that year, the advocacy group Common Cause reported that between 2003 and 2007, Thomas failed to disclose $686,589 in income his wire earned from the Heritage Foundation, instead of reporting “none†where spousal noninvestment income†would be reported on his Supreme Court financial disclosure forms.
Fix the Court released an analysis showing that, over 20 years beginning in 2004, Thomas had accepted gifts worth more than $4.2 million, based on reporting by ProPublica and others. It estimated that over the same 20 years, the other eight justices plus the eight retired or decreased justices received gifts worth roughly $600,000 combined.
