by Fix the Court

AB: April 2023 Propublica reported on the largesse of outsiders and their generous nature of their gift giving to SCOTUS. June 2024 and we are again hearing of the propensity of the gift givers to SCOTUS and in particular Justice Clarence Thomas. If only they acted in the same way with much of the population who could use $6 million in aid to exist.

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“Fix the Court” unveiled a list of the gifts the justices have received over the year. The numbers make one wonder about the legitimacy of the court’s decisions. At a certain point, the question of whether there is influence due to the numbers of and value of the gifts comes into question. As Fix the Court has documented from data over the last two decades (Jan. 2004-Dec. 2023), the justices have accepted 344 gifts valued at $2,993,036.

If one includes another 101 gifts that Justice Thomas likely received over those 20 years mostly comprising free trips to and free stays at Bohemian Grove and Topridge worth $1,787,684) the number jumps to 445 gifts valued at ~$4,780,720. See the chart below as taken from Fix the Court or here.

All told, the number of gifts FTC identified that were accepted by the current nine, plus the eight who’ve left the court since 2004 (Justices Rehnquist, Stevens, O’Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer) is 546, valued at $4,755,147. Adding in Thomas’ 126 likely gifts since his confirmation, that tally comes to 672 gifts valued at $6,592,657.

These numbers are largely based on last year’s groundbreaking work by ProPublica and includes data from stories in the New York Times, L.A. Times, the congressional record, annual disclosures and FTC’s own research, led by law clerks Olivia Rae Okun-Dubitsky and Ashley Alarcon.

And Propublica’s report was still not enough to raise eyebrows and result in action by the court or Congress?

New SCOTUS Disclosures Show 2023 Was a Good Year for Several Justice-Authors’ Bank Accounts, Fix the Court

About the Court: SCOTUS Ethics, Civil Discourse, Joyce Vance