Clarence Thomas Has Raked in Millions in Gifts Over the Past Two Decades, Watchdog Group Says

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has raked in over $4 million in gifts during his career, including some $2.4 million in the last twenty years – according to new data from watchdog group Fix The Court. The jaw-dropping amount far outpaces all the other judges’ gifts combined, with former Justice Antonin Scalia coming in second with $175,861 in gifts received in the last twenty years.

The data from Fix The Court also shows Justice Samuel Alito taking in some $170,095 in gifts, former Justice John Paul Stevens taking $79,059 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg taking in $55,014.

Fix The Court offered a footnote on how they calculated the gifts, writing, “Across all the years and all the tabs, we count “meals” and “lodging” as two gifts, and we count each leg of a roundtrip flight as one gift, so it’s two gifts per roundtrip, and unless otherwise stated, we assign the cost per hour of a flight on a private plane to be $10,000 (can range from $5,000 to $25,000, depending on plane size and other circumstances).”

One of these Justices is not like the others.

cc: @FixTheCourt pic.twitter.com/JraZfZ1olS

— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) June 6, 2024

Thomas has been under fire for months after a bombshell report from ProPublica documented the justice taking lavish trips at the expense of billionaires, notably right-wing tycoon Harlan Crow – who also bought property from the justice.

MSNBC economic analyst Steve Rattner commented on Fix The Court’s data and noted of Thomas’s gift total: “One of these Justices is not like the others.”

It pays to be Justice Clarence Thomas.

New data from @FixTheCourt on the value of gifts justices received & reported over the past two decades. pic.twitter.com/EE5f9wV1GY

— Steven Mazie (@stevenmazie) June 6, 2024

See the full data from Fix The Court here.