The stench of corruption grows around the Supreme Court

There’s blood in the water around the Supreme Court now and investigative journalists are swarming, finding all the fodder they need for a scandal in the form of Justice Clarence Thomas alone. The latest addition to the Thomas corruption chronicles is The New York Times’ exposé on his long-standing membership in the Horatio Alger Association, one that netted him a whole new raft of generous, wealthy friends spending lavishly to provide him a luxurious lifestyle. As the circle of Thomas’ rich and powerful associates grows, so grows the likelihood of conflicts of interest for him on the court and the likelihood the media will be able to dig them up. Each new discovery will only deepen the crisis in the court and generate more momentum for reform.

Previous reporting from ProPublica shows just how susceptible Thomas is to very rich people who want to give him big-ticket items like luxury vacations, in particular his longtime friend Harlan Crow, the Texas billionaire who also likes to spend his largesse on right-wing dark money groups. Crow has funded not only lavish vacations and private plane rides, but made life easier for Thomas with real estate deals, paying tuition for Thomas’ ward to attend private school, and generally enriching Thomas’ life. Crow even pays the rent on the home where Thomas’ mother currently lives. That was all highly questionable, made more so by Thomas’ failure to report any of these gifts in financial disclosures, but not a clear-cut conflict of interest for Thomas. Crow hasn’t had much business before the court, though he has funded organizations that take an interest in various right-wing legal efforts.