Recently the Supreme Court of the United States suffered a serious jolt with unflattering revelations concerning the activities of Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas received, over a 20-year period, gifts amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars from one of his “dearest friends” named Harlan Crow, an eccentric Texas real estate billionaire and avid collector of Nazi memorabilia. Crow also purchased property from the Thomas family amounting to more than $133,000, where Thomas’s mother still lives, rent free.
None of this was reported by Thomas, as required by law. Thomas also failed to report income earned by his wife Virginia “Ginny” Thomas, real estate income he received, teaching income he earned and other gifts he received. Ginny Thomas is also a conservative activist, and she attended the January 6, 2021, rally protesting the results of the November 2020 election, which led to the insurrection at the Capitol Building.
In spite of these unbecoming and illegal acts, Justice Thomas still retains life tenure on the nation’s highest court.
Unfortunately, Utahns share a great deal of the blame for having this unsavory person occupying a seat on the Supreme Court. Sen. Orrin Hatch, perhaps more than any other person, pushed for the confirmation of Thomas, this in spite of his known character flaws. Thomas himself has admitted on several occasions that he would not have been confirmed without the efforts of Utah’s Orrin Hatch.
Since that time, a number of prominent Utahns have heaped praise on Justice Clarence Thomas.
On Friday, March 11, 2022, the Orrin Hatch Foundation hosted Clarence Thomas at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City at which 500 people attended. Thomas was introduced by President Dallin H. Oaks of the LDS First Presidency. Oaks praised the “courage” of Thomas in the face of “adversity and strong opposition” in making decisions “that might not be politically correct.”
“We are fortunate,” the church leader went on to say, “to have Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court, and we are honored to have him with us tonight.”
Utah Supreme Court Justice Tom Lee, who is proud to have clerked for Thomas in the mid-1990s, then moderated a discussion with Thomas. In the course of the discussion, Thomas stated he was worried what chipping away at the Supreme Court and other government institutions will mean for the future of the United States. He said he was fearful the country would become a chaotic “mess” and was fearful the country “is in the process of destroying the very things that make it a free society.”
This statement was made at a time when Thomas himself was doing very serious damage to the integrity of the Supreme Court.
Following the event, Scott Anderson, the Hatch Foundation Board Chair, extolled Thomas as “a man of boundless warmth, humor, and above all intellect,” and he went on to describe how Thomas “had anchored the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence to the true meaning of the Constitution. His steadfast adherence to originalism and textualism,” he further noted, “has helped temper the intemperate impulses of Congress and helped preserve the integrity of our courts. No matter the circumstances, Justice Thomas always says what the law is — not what he wants it to be. And in that sense, he’s everything a judge should aspire to be.”
This undeserved praise of Clarence Thomas seems ludicrous in light of the recent disclosures of illegality and fraud on the part of the Supreme Court’s longest-tenured Justice.
Americans used to feel the Supreme Court was a trustworthy institution and less markedly political than other branches of the government. A Gallup poll taken in 2002 showed that 50% of American adults had confidence in the Supreme Court. The most recent poll taken in 2022 showed that only 25% displayed that same confidence.
In light of Clarence Thomas’ reckless and reproachable behavior, confidence in the Supreme Court will undoubtedly decline even more.
Bob Greenwell
Bob Greenwell is a retired salesman living in West Jordan. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Weber State University (magna cum laude), a master’s degree in history from The University of Utah and did doctoral work in modern German history at The Ohio State University. He was a DAAD research fellow studying modern German history for two years in the Federal Republic of Germany. Since retirement he has done independent research in 20th century Mormon history and has presented his research several times at the annual Sunstone Symposium.
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