Judge `inadvertently’ missed details in financial disclosure
Springsteen cancels Albany concert for second time
By Ken Tingley
Legal documents have to be ridiculously precise.
My wife needed to have an affidavit from a lawyer because she was identified in a legal document with a middle initial in one reference and without one on the second reference. The lawyer had made a small, but egregious error.
Attorneys have to have an uncanny attention to detail so those mistakes are not made.
That’s what makes the financial disclosure report for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in August so surprising. He is either hiding something or he is a very sloppy lawyer.
Thomas released his required financial disclosure report for 2022 in August and used the opportunity to address repeated incidents where he failed to disclose income, gifts or travel because he believed it was not required.
Supreme Court justices, like most elected officials, are required to list investments, income, trusts and property they own. But it is not specific. These financial disclosure forms ask you to check a box A through P3 that gives a range of value.
A equals a value of $1,000 or less.
B equals a value of $1,001 to $2,500.
C equals a value of $2,501 to $5,000
It finally tops out a P3 which equals $25 to $50 million and then P4 which is more than $50 million.
Thomas’s disclosures add up to about $1.4 million if you use the lower numbers on all his accounts. It also does not include any real estate or the luxury RV he drives.
What was most surprising about the document was that Thomas finally addressed recent ProPublica revelations about luxury travel he had not paid for over the years. He made the argument he did not have to report any of these vacation gifts, although for those of us who worked for years under strict ethics policies as journalists, the argument is flimsy at best.
Thomas goes to great length in the submission to address “personal hospitality” travel.
“Prior to the March 14, 2023 guidance, filer adhered to the then existing judicial regulations as his colleagues had done, both in practice and in consultation with the Judicial Conference that exempted disclosing trips that were provided pursuant to the “personal hospitality” exemption as set forth in the statute and rules. As far back as the 1984 Judicial Conference regulations issued for more than thirty years or in any advice provided by the Judicial Conference to judges that is inconsistent with this position,” Thomas explains in his filing.
It ignores the obvious that there is a clear appearance of impropriety and that is something that should be avoided at all costs by any judge or politician.
Thomas explains he was further advised that after Roe vs. Wade was overturned, justices were advised to avoid commercial airline travel for security reasons. If Thomas chose to avoid commercial airline travel, then he should pay for it himself and not receive a gift that shows the appearance of impropriety.
Thomas also admits a gross lapse of memory in revealing several bank accounts and life insurance policies that belonged to his spouse.
Thomas repeatedly uses the word “inadvertently” in his failure to reveal this holdings in past reports.
For instance:
- Bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union totaling $55,000 as well as life insurance policies valued under $100,000 were “inadvertently” omitted in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.
- Personal bank accounts were also omitted in 2022 because Thomas believed they were exempt from disclosure.
- Thomas also addresses the purchase of his mother’s residence in 2014 by billionaire and longtime friend Harlan Crow for $133,000, saying he took a net loss on the real estate transaction.
While Thomas’ explanation about his ethical lapses may be legally sound they show how out of touch he is with the regular citizens he represents. If someone gave us something for free, most of us would logically ask: What is the catch?
Clarence Thomas seems to believe his rich friends just think he is fun to be around; that there is no catch.
Why else would they want to jet him off to be with them on luxury vacations?
Yes, the sarcasm was intended.
Richard W. Painter, a University of Minnesota Law School professor who was once a White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush said recently, “We have a court that may be out of touch with America in a whole lot of different ways, and one of those ways is wealth.”
“The Boss” cancels
It was about a year ago I purchased tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in Albany for a March concert. If you’ve read any of my columns over the years, you know I have an obsession with “The Boss” and this was going to be my 30th concert. While that is a lot, there are many others who have seen far more.
A week or so before the Albany show, Springsteen postponed shows in Connecticut and Albany citing an illness in the band.
Shortly after the cancelation, tickets went on sale for a September show in Syracuse. I bought tickets for that one too.
On Wednesday night, less than 24 hours before the concert in Syracuse, Springsteen canceled all his tour dates in September, including the rescheduled show in Albany, because of a peptic ulcer.
It was disappointing.
Springsteen, who is now 73, is a phenomenon to still be entertaining at this age, so you have to expect these things.
I have vacation time scheduled later in the fall and now I fear the concerts will be rescheduled while I am away. I’m wishing a speedy recovery for “The Boss” and hope our paths will pass again soon.
Cemetery tour
For years, the Chapman Museum held a cemetery tour in the fall where guides dressed in period dress for a history event at a local cemetery. The program was put on hiatus during Covid. It is back.
The cemetery tour returns at Pine View Cemetery in Queensbury on Saturday, Sept. 30 with tours scheduled every half-hour from 10 a.m.until 1 p.m. Each cart holds a limit of 12.
Guides will recount the contributions of significant local figures and their ties to history from actors who bring their stories back to life.
The cost is $20 per person ($15 for Chapman members). You need to reserve a spot by Friday, Sept. 29 at (518) 793-2826.
I sympathize with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Filling out forms can be really confusing and I often have a hard time properly filling out government paperwork. I recently had to do some stuff at DMV - did you know you have to have an appointment? I didn’t, and I had to go back the next day - anyway, I thought I’d done a pretty good job. I printed out the proper forms at home and filled in all the pertinent information, or I thought so anyway. But the clerk there was very nice and helpful. She fixed a few things with her red pen, I paid my fee, and I was out of there with new plates and a new registration!
So Justice Thomas and I are a lot alike in our problems with paperwork. Maybe I could be a Supreme Court justice! If I was I’d hire that clerk from DMV to help me out with some of the detail work.
Your essay is spot on, especially the point about people in positions of public trust avoiding even the appearance of impropriety. It is important that we all see judges as impartial, so they are expected to not only avoid actual conflicts of interests, but anything that might even look like one to people. I'm pretty sure it is part of attorneys' (and judges') code of professional responsibility to avoid even that perception of conflict.
The lack of discernment on the part of Thomas and other Justices is shocking and especially troubling in people who sit in judgement. They all need to hunt around for whatever common sense they once had and ask themselves "if normal people knew about this, would they see it as a conflict?" And if the answer is even a slight "maybe", they disclose.