In a new filing on Friday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas revealed more high-class holidays paid for by Harlan Crow, a Republican megadonor and real estate mogul. Other justices said they got passes to see Beyoncé and royalties from books worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On top of their salaries, which are currently around $300,000 a year, Supreme Court justices record any extra money or gifts they receive every year.
It was said that the show tickets, worth $3,711.84, were gifts from the famous singer to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson also said that she had received an advance of $893,750 for a book and free artwork worth $12,500 for her bedroom.
Thomas, on the other hand, changed his 2019 filings to include trips that Crow paid for to Bali, Indonesia, and Monte Rio, California. Thomas didn’t say how much those two trips were worth.
The justice has been under a lot of scrutiny for a long time because he hasn’t told anyone about big gifts he got from Crow, like years of private school fees, a house in Georgia for his mother, and many trips.
Other judges said they made a lot of money from book royalties. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she made almost $90,000, Justice Neil Gorsuch said he made over $250,000, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he made $340,000.
Some costs were mentioned but not measured in the reports. For example, the justices were given free transportation, food, and lodging for a number of speeches and appearances.
Ethics on the Supreme Court have been a very controversial subject lately. In November 2023, the court passed an ethics rule. Since then, Justice Samuel Alito’s homes have been watched closely because they have had controversial flags flying outside of them.
The disclosure reports from this year, especially Thomas’s, will add to the ongoing arguments about how the judges behaved.
Fix the Court, a watchdog group that says it is a nonpartisan nonprofit that wants to make the high court more accountable to Americans, says that current and previous justices have taken $2,993,036 in gifts over the past 20 years.
People can see the justices’ financial disclosure records thanks to the U.S. Courts and Fix the Court. The date for filing reports was May 15, but justices can ask for more time, so not all reports are out yet.
