Justice Thomas Quid Pro Quo Renews Calls for Resignation

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 18, 2023 – A new ProPublica bombshell published Monday morning adds to the ever-growing evidence of Justice Clarence Thomas’s financial corruption. According to the new reporting, Justice Thomas only began receiving lavish gifts from wealthy conservatives after complaining in conservative circles that he was paid so poorly that he was considering quitting. This further confirms that these ultrarich weren’t necessarily paying to receive their desired outcomes in specific cases, but to ensure conservative-leaning justices like Thomas stayed on the bench so that they could benefit from the outcomes across the Court’s caseload.

Alliance for Justice has been calling for Justice Thomas’s resignation since the first reports came out last April about his megayacht excursions with Harlan Crow. In the seven months since, reporting from ProPublica and elsewhere has only paid a more dire picture of just how much Thomas has been bought and paid for by wealthy and powerful conservatives. AFJ renews its calls for his resignation and welcomes others to join the growing coalition that agrees.

Alliance for Justice President Rakim H.D. Brooks issued the following statement: 

“We have been saying for months that Justice Thomas must resign to restore integrity to our courts and confidence in the rule of law. Today’s reporting changes nothing about the basic facts: Billionaires conspired to enrich Justice Thomas. But what we did learn is that it was Justice Thomas himself who laid the breadcrumbs to his own corruption by furtively suggesting he might leave his seat (and abandon the conservative cause) if he were not paid more. The rightwing money machine got the hint and paid his ransom. Today, our republic is buckling under the weight of those misdeeds, as Americans no longer trust their Supreme Court to be a citadel of democracy and justice. Quite the opposite — they have come to expect the worst from our pay-for-performance judiciary. Are we really going to stand idly by and do nothing about this corruption?”