Clarence Thomas Didn't Report $700K Paid to His Wife: House Dems
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose that his wife received paychecks from conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.
And the sum is no small chunk of change. House Democrats say that Virginia Thomas received $700,000 between 2003 and 2007.
They are now requesting an ethics investigation into the matter.
So did Thomas deliberately exclude the payout? Or was this simply an accident?
One thing is for sure: this isn't the first time the justice has omitted some information.
In January, Thomas corrected about 20 years worth of documents after a watchdog group noticed that he never disclosed where his wife worked.
Thomas said that this was a simple accident due to a "misunderstanding of the filing instructions."
But strangely enough, the amended reports indicate that his wife worked at the Heritage Foundation from 1998 to 2003.
Okay, so he knew that he had to disclose where his wife worked during those years.
But then why not go back and fill in all the gaps? Why only bubble in that his wife worked at the think tank between the years of 1998 and 2003 when he knew that she worked there from 2003 to 2007 as well?
Perhaps it really was just a mishap.
After all, it seems strange for a Supreme Court Justice to deliberately conceal something that he knew would likely come out into the open at some point.
And it's not like Justice Thomas has ever been shy about revealing his politics. Publicly disclosing his wife's connection with conservative groups wouldn't do much to his reputation.
Was Clarence Thomas' non-disclosure intentional and worthy of an ethics investigation? Or was it a harmless error? It seems like politics and the courts shall intersect yet again.
Related Resources:
- Democrats Call for Inquiry of Clarence Thomas (Roll Call)
- Justice Clarence Thomas Criticizes Left-Leaning Law Schools (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- First Elena Kagan, Now Clarence Thomas: The Case for Recusal (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)
- Clarence Thomas Too Biased to hear Obamacare? (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life)