ProPublica's deep dive into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' financial dealings continued on Monday with a new report that describes Thomas as under financial strain in early 2000 "just as he was developing his relationships with a set of wealthy benefactors." It cites interviews and documents in describing the conversation that allegedly took place in January 2000 as Thomas returned home from a high-end Georgia beach resort where he gave the keynote at a conservative conference.
Friends tell the site Thomas had borrowed $267,000 from a friend to purchase an RV the month prior. He sat beside GOP Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns on the flight home and allegedly discussed his frustration with his $173,600 salary—more than $300,000 in today's dollars—saying Congress should raise the justices' pay. If they failed to, Thomas predicted one or more justices would leave within a year or so. As ProPublica puts it, "the lawmaker left the conversation worried that Thomas might resign" and subsequently sent Thomas a letter vowing to look into a bill that would raise Supreme Court salaries. ProPublica has a copy of the letter, and reports Stearns did undertake an effort to raise the issue.
ProPublica reports that in other conversations around the time, Thomas discussed killing the ban on justices giving paid speeches. There was no substantial raise or end to the ban, but ProPublica says the conversations give context to what it has previously reported came next: "Thomas accept[ing] a stream of gifts from friends and acquaintances that appears to be unparalleled in the modern history of the Supreme Court," though it notes there is "no evidence the justice ever raised the specter of resigning with [those] wealthy benefactors." (More Clarence Thomas stories.)
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