Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt more than two decades ago when he pressured a Republican congressman to propose a pay raise for justices just a month after he purchased a luxury RV with a $267,000 loan he was not required to pay back.
Associates said Thomas had major financial problems in early 2000, even after he was seated on the nation’s highest court for nearly a decade, according to the latest documents to emerge in the scandal that involved luxury travel and gifts extended to Thomas over the past 20 or more years.
The newest revelation in the case follows the explosive report by ProPublica last spring that revealed Justice Thomas had taken gifts from a number of billionaire Republican megadonors, including former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, former Miami Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga, and Dallas real estate tycoon Harlan Crow, among others.
The Senate Finance Committee is currently investigating Thomas’ financial dealings over the past two decades amid increased calls for tougher ethics rules and for Thomas to resign.
Separately, in June, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito also sought to dispel a ProPublica report alleging he went on a luxury Alaskan fishing excursion 15 years ago with a billionaire Republican donor whose hedge fund was the subject of several high court rulings in which Alito never recused himself.
Back in January 2000, Thomas and his wife, Ginni, were reportedly struggling to afford additional expenses as they began raising his grandnephew, but Thomas was still able to stay at a lavish beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, where he gave a keynote speech at a conservative conference.
When Thomas made the trip to Georgia, his accommodations were paid for by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative policy institute that was sponsoring the convention, known then as the “Awakening.”
In previous financial disclosure…
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