Clarence and Ginni Thomas face new ethics scrutiny over secret payments, gifted private school tuition
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted from Texas billionaire Harlan Crow at least $100,000 of private school tuition for his legal ward and did not include the gifts on his financial disclosure forms, ProPublic reported Thursday. Hours later, The Washington Post revealed that conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo had arranged at least $80,000 in secret consulting payments for Thomas' wife, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, in 2011 and 2012.
The newly uncovered payments add to ethical and legal concerns about expensive, undisclosed financial arrangements the Thomas' have accepted from powerful friends over the past two decades, especially Crow.
According to documents obtained by the Post, Leo funneled $80,000 to $100,000 in payments to Ginni Thomas through GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway's company. He told Conway to bill a nonprofit he advised, the Judicial Education Project, then pass the money on to Thomas' Liberty Consulting firm. The billing paperwork should have "no mention of Ginni, of course," Leo wrote Conway in instructions to "give" Thomas "another $25k" in 2012.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Leo, who has used a network of nonprofits to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on getting conservative judges on federal courts, said Ginni Thomas' "long history of working on issues within the conservative movement" is "no secret," and her work for him "did not involve anything connected with either the [Supreme] Court's business or with other legal issues." He kept her name off the paperwork, he said, because "knowing how disrespectful, malicious, and gossipy people can be, I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni."
Crow, meanwhile, paid for at least two years of private boarding school for Mark Martin, a grandnephew of Clarence Thomas that he and his wife raised as legal guardians from age 6 to 19, ProPublica reports. Mark Paoletta, a longtime friend of Clarence Thomas, confirmed that Crow paid for a year of Martin's tuition at Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia and another year at Hidden Lake Academy in Georgia, which would have cost about $100,000, ProPublica calculated. If he paid for Martin's other two years at Randolph-Macon, that would add another $50,000.
Crow said in a statement that he "has long been passionate about the importance of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate," and has "supported many young Americans" at a "variety of schools."
Legal ethics experts disagreed on whether Thomas was required by law to disclose the gifted tuition or whether he should have be forced to recuse himself in cases where his wife's clients issued briefs. But they agreed these undisclosed entanglements further undermine public confidence in the court's independence, impartiality, and ethical standards. Read more about the financial arrangements at ProPublica and The Washington Post.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
What the chancellor's pension megafund plans mean for your money
Rachel Reeves wants pension schemes to merge and back UK infrastructure – but is it putting your money at risk?
By Marc Shoffman, The Week UK Published
-
Why Māori are protesting in New Zealand
A controversial bill has ignited a 'flashpoint in race relations' as opponents claim it will undermine the rights of Indigenous people
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: November 21, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: January 6, 2024
Daily Briefing Supreme Court to rule on Trump being kept off 2024 presidential ballots, Hezbollah fires rockets toward Israel following Hamas leader’s death, and more
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published