Ray Mariano: Clarence Thomas a disgrace to Supreme Court

I can’t imagine how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas looks at himself in the mirror. Here’s a man who ruled against using affirmative action in college admissions even though he personally benefited because of his race receiving preferential treatment for admissions at both Holy Cross and Yale Law School. Thomas also didn’t hesitate to play the race card when he complained about his “lynching” during his nomination hearings. The man is a stone-cold hypocrite.

But his hypocrisy pales in comparison to the unchecked misconduct Thomas has exhibited while wearing the distinguished robes of a member of the Supreme Court.

Thomas' disgrace

The scope of Thomas’ misconduct is breathtaking.

According to public reporting, one billionaire paid for Thomas’ grandnephew’s private school tuition, estimated at more than $150,000. He also bought Thomas’ mother’s house, renovated it and allowed her to continue to live there. The same billionaire flew Thomas all around the world for private luxury vacations.

Another billionaire helped finance Thomas’ purchase of a luxury motor home, valued at $267,230. To this day no one knows if interest was charged for the loan or if Thomas ever repaid all or even part of the loan. That’s because Thomas never reported it on his financial disclosure forms.

As reported by Propublica, Thomas has received lavish gifts from at least four other billionaire GOP megadonors, including 38 separate vacation destinations, 26 private jet flights, eight helicopter rides, a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, and a voyage on a luxury yacht. The value of these gifts is estimated to be in the millions.

I should also point out that most of these gifts and the names of the four billionaires who gave them have never been reported by Thomas. Ethics experts say that failure is a violation of the law.

None of the four billionaires were friends of Thomas before he became a Supreme Court justice. All worked in industries influenced by the Supreme Court. One of them was so brazen that he even publicly predicted a Supreme Court ruling in advance.

Also, according to public reporting, Thomas’ wife was paid $80,000 by a GOP megadonor who told the funding agency to leave her name off the payroll presumably so that his largess would not be connected to Thomas. Thomas also ruled on matters for which his wife was a paid lobbyist.

As a Supreme Court justice, Thomas earns $285,400 a year — a lofty sum for most people. But Thomas has been quoted as saying, “The job is not worth doing for what they pay…” So I guess that makes accepting millions of dollars in gifts acceptable.

Thomas is not the only Supreme Court Justice who has ethical issues. Recently, it has been reported that both Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Sonia Sotomayor have issues that raise ethical concerns. Alito failed to disclose a luxury trip to Alaska or the flight on a private jet funded by a hedge fund billionaire. Sotomayor’s staff pushed universities to purchase the justice’s books before hosting her.

But Clarence Thomas is the undisputed heavyweight champ of sleaze.

Rules for everyone else

There are more than 2 million civilian federal employees. Each employee is required to follow very strict rules and guidelines. In practical terms, they can’t accept anything of value. In most cases, a federal employee can’t even accept dinner from someone who may, at some point, possibly have a connection to their work. Individuals have been fired and some even prosecuted for taking gifts or things of value when they shouldn’t have.

The same holds true for every federal judge below the level of the Supreme Court. But, for the most part, the Supreme Court has no real, enforceable set of rules.

So, let me see if I got this straight. It’s OK for Thomas to accept millions of dollars in gifts, vacations, tuitions and who knows what else but a federal employee can’t accept a steak dinner when they are at a conference? Sounds fair.

Senate inaction

Clarence Thomas is a disgrace. So what? Well, so nothing if Congress doesn’t do something about it. I called our two United States senators to ask them what specifically they would do about all of this.

You thought I’d get a straight answer? Fat chance. When I called Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey’s offices and told them why I was calling, I never heard back. Given their publicly stated strong feelings on the subject, you’d think they would be taking swift, decisive action. You would be wrong.

Chief Justice John Roberts and the other members of the court have refused to do anything to curb the stench. And most Republican lawmakers have made it clear that they want no part of this issue since many of them take campaign cash from the same billionaires. But Democratic lawmakers who take every chance they can get to stand in front of television cameras and lament Thomas’ actions have done absolutely nothing concrete to stop the behavior from continuing.

When all of this is over, more than a few books will be written that chronicle Thomas’ disgraceful career. When they are, I hope that there is a separate chapter set aside for the spineless politicians in Washington who talk about doing something, then do absolutely zero. And there should be a chapter about the rest of us. By not screaming and demanding action, we allow this to happen.

In the meantime, we’ll just have to sit and wave goodbye as Thomas sets off on his next luxury vacation.

Email Raymond V. Mariano at rmariano.telegram@gmail.com. He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His column appears weekly in the Sunday Telegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ray Mariano column on Clarence Thomas as disgrace to Supreme Court