With surprisingly little coverage from the media, Justice Clarence Thomas has amended his financial disclosure after Common Cause exposed his failure to report his wife’s income for many years — including her payments from conservative organizations.
Thomas corrected financial disclosures for the past 13 years that confirmed the allegations of Common Cause that Virginia Thomas worked for Michigan’s Hillsdale College, the Heritage Foundation and the Republican leadership in the House.
He did not reveal the amount of money that she received from these sources.
As noted earlier, this employment would have been viewed as directly relevant (and controversial) during Thomas’ consideration of the Citizens United case.
For many, the incident will be cited as evidence of how toothless these rules have become. There is little deterrent for a justice who fails to disclose required information for 13 years — including information that would have likely been used as a possible basis for a recusal motion. It takes Common Cause to launch a major campaign to get compliance with the requirements.
What will be fascinating is the next case to come before Thomas of a criminal appeal in a failure to disclose case or tax case. There was nothing particularly complex about this reporting form. While criminal defense attorneys often argue that such omissions do not warrant prosecution, Thomas is viewed as fairly hostile toward such defendants coming before the Court. I was just counsel in the case of a judge who was removed from the bench by the United States Senate on articles of impeachment that included his failure to report income in a bankruptcy filing.
Common Cause notes that Thomas’ explanation that he had a 13-year “misunderstanding of the filing instructions” to be implausible.
Here is the changed form: Thomas- FD amendments
Source: New York Times
Jonathan Turley
Swarthomre mom:
“. Impeachment starts in the house and a two thirds majority is needed. I don’t think we have to worry about Mr. Boehner starting proceedings.”
Unfortunatlely Touche!!
Don’t shoplifters ALWAYS offer to pay for the goods that they’ve just purloined? And how often do they get away with it? Impeach this criminal bastard.
From Common Cause
Justice Thomas and the case of the “inadvertent omission.”
by Dale Eisman on January 24th, 2011
http://www.commonblog.com/2011/01/24/justice-thomas-and-the-case-of-the-inadvertent-omission/
Excerpt:
Because of a “misunderstanding of the filing instructions, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas’s earnings were “inadvertently omitted” from his earlier disclosures, the justice explained.
This is not a trifling matter. The form Justice Thomas erroneously completed includes a warning that “Any individual who knowingly and willfully falsifies or fails to file this report may be subject to civil and criminal sanctions,” language that seems calculated to inspire filers to take care about filling it out. The annual disclosures are the only practical mechanism available to the public or to litigants with cases before the high court for monitoring potential conflicts of interest by the justices.
I don’t think it is an IRS matter. The article says disclosure forms not income tax forms. He still should be impeached. Impeachment starts in the house and a two thirds majority is needed. I don’t think we have to worry about Mr. Boehner starting proceedings.
This kind of behavior, where there are different rules for the elite and the rest of us, has been in effect in our country since its’ inception. SCOTUS judges though in the past made some attempt to at least seem to be acting with propriety. Thomas and Scalia minimally bother to present themselves as fair arbiters and that is what makes the present state of US legal affairs to be so scary.
Hillsdale College is a favorite of Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.
Marnie
“It should be alarming to every lawyer, lawmaker and citizen in this country that one of the Justices of the highest court can’t, for 13 years figure out a tax reporting or have the integrity to hire a CPA to do it for them.”
It should be even more alarming to every citizen that the Director of the Treasury Department couldn’t or wouldn’t do it either.
AY mentioned this:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/220720/horror-hillsdale/john-j-miller
“A number of professors have said that they were fired, and several students have claimed that they were expelled, for clashing with Roche or the administration. In 1988, the American Association of University Professors censured Hillsdale for “inadequate protection against an improper exercise of administrative power.” For many years, there was a sense that Roche had not only built Hillsdale but lorded over it. In 1996, an unnamed former employee told the Chronicle of Higher Education, “It’s a rather Stalinist kind of environment.” Hillsdale’s greatest assets — its remoteness and Roche — were simultaneously severe weaknesses.”
Do as I say not as I do.
““Justice Thomas sits on the highest court of the land, is called upon daily to understand and interpret the most complicated legal issues of our day and makes decisions that affect millions,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “It is hard to see how he could have misunderstood the simple directions of a federal disclosure form. We find his excuse is implausible.”
Because I have not seen the form or J. Thomas’s full rationale for his purported error, I am not willing to conclude he lied. I do note, however, that it appears that he filled out the form the same way for 13 years and (apparently) no one questioned his method until the last week or so. To me, this indicates that no one really cared about this issue until they had the chance to score political gain.
It certainly does appear that Thomas lied, or else is plain stupid for not ASKING his wife if she has an outside source of money.
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882”
Please impeach this miserable embarrassment.
Thomas and Scalia are tarnishing the reputation and standing or the Supreme Court and of its decisions.
At the very least Thomas should be censured, if there is any branch of the government hat has the power to do that.
It should be alarming to every lawyer, lawmaker and citizen in this country that one of the Justices of the highest court can’t, for 13 years figure out a tax reporting or have the integrity to hire a CPA to do it for them.
Thomas is ether stupid, of a deliberate liar. In either case he should not have the responsibility and duty to judging other Americans.
That Thomas would use stupidity as his defense should be even more alarming as it speak to a total lack of professional integrity.
“On the form, Thomas had checked a box that stated “none” for spousal income.” -Common Cause
Nal is right — Thomas lied. It wasn’t an oversight or a simple mistake — it was a lie. He lied during the Anita Hill hearings and he’s lying now. And he’s a Supreme Court justice…
What is even more interesting is Hillsdale College….They take no federal funding…why…so they can maintain racial purity (my opinion)…but then again…see the former founders affair with his son’s wife and some apparent suicides…
You’re right, Nal. Thomas lied when he wrote “none.” He didn’t know that his wife received more than $600,000 in income from the Heritage Foundation?????
*****
From Common Cause’s recent press release:
“We also continue to be puzzled by omission of Liberty Central as Virginia Thomas’s most recent employer.”
What Nal said. Thomas is a liar. Plain and simple. He, like Scalia, is an embarrassment to the court and should face impeachment.
I find it very, very hard to believe that Thomas inadvertently “forgot” to list his wife’s income, on a clearly designed form, for 13 years.
Between Thomas’ blatant disregard for rules (and by extension the law) and the antics of Scalia et al, I have pretty much lost all faith in SCOTUS. Sad, isn’t it?
This stinks. And not a flowerly stink, either.
… financial disclosure after Common Cause exposed his failure to report his wife’s income for many years …
I don’t think he “failed to disclose”, he lied when he wrote “none.”