Justice Clarence Thomas gets lambasted after report claims he accepted $4M in gifts during his career

GEORGIA: Since the early 2000s, Supreme Court justices have received almost $5 million in gifts, with Justice Clarence Thomas receiving the majority.

The watchdog group Fix the Court released data on June 6, detailing the gifts received by justices since January 2004. This release precedes the anticipated publication of the justices' financial disclosure reports on June 7.

Justice Clarence Thomas received total 193 gift items

Justice Thomas, appointed by former President George HW Bush, was in the spotlight last year following revelations that he had accepted numerous trips funded by wealthy friends, The Hill reported.

Fix the Court's data shows that since 2004, Thomas has received $4,042,286 in gifts, totaling 193 items. Additionally, there are 126 "likely but not confirmed" gifts attributed to him.

Out of these, Thomas reported only 27 on his financial disclosures. The dataset accounts for gifts to current and former justices since 2004, up to approximately $4.7 million.

“Supreme Court justices should not be accepting gifts, let alone the hundreds of freebies worth millions of dollars they’ve received over the years,” Gabe Roth of Fix the Court made a statement.

“Public servants who make four times the median local salary, and who can make millions writing books on any topic they like, can afford to pay for their vacations, vehicles, hunting excursions and club memberships.”

Roth persisted, contending that the influence lies in the identity of the gift-givers to the justices and the intentions behind their "generosity." “The ethics crisis at the court won’t begin to abate until justices adopt stricter gift acceptance rules,” he said.

Justice Samuel Alito ranks third in gift receipts

The watchdog group has acknowledged that the actual total of gifts may be higher than reported. For instance, they could not confirm a hunting lodge stay by Justice Antonin Scalia, and since Scalia, along with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and William Rehnquist, passed away while in office, the figures might be underestimated.

Scalia was the recipient of the second-largest amount in gifts, totaling $210,164 from January 2004 until he died in 2016. This revelation follows calls from Democrats for Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases about January 6 and former President Trump, which are currently before the court, especially after a "Stop the Steal" flag was reportedly flown outside his residence post-Capitol attack.

Recently, Alito dismissed these recusal requests. According to the data, Alito ranks third in gift receipts, amassing $170,095 from his initial day in office on January 31, 2006, to the present.

Internet says Justice Clarence Thomas 'sold his soul'

As soon as the news went viral on social media, users started reacting to it. A user asked, "How many others on the left received gifts from foreign entities?"

Another user questioned, "how is that legal ..clarence?"

The third commentator slammed saying, "He sold his soul to place and keep rich Autocrats in power Willingly, Knowingly, Handsomely and has been used Cunningly,Convincingly Conveniently ever since. Does he and Ginni have any idea what they have done besides getting rich."

"Astounding corruption. How can anyone defend this criminal," one stated.

An X user said, "I believe you meant $4mil in bribery! Not gifts! Say it as it is."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.