Dem
51
GOP
49
This week, we learned one more bit of information about Clarence Thomas' finances, and how said finances were buoyed by the intervention of "concerned" friends.
It would seem, back in 2000, that the justice was having trouble making ends meet on his salary of $173,600 (which, today, would be equivalent to $300,000+). In fact, he was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. How did that happen? Well, purchases like a $267,000 RV might have had something to do with it, though we'll have to check with the staff accountant to be sure.
In any event, Thomas began complaining, to select people, that he was drowning financially and that he was thinking about resigning from the Court and going into the private sector, where a much larger salary would be possible. Keeping in mind that this was 2000, that was a threat that made conservatives' hair stand on end. The Court, at that time, had three reliable conservatives (Thomas among them), three swing votes, and three reliable liberals. Had Thomas stood down, there was every chance that his replacement would be chosen by Bill Clinton, or maybe by Al Gore, giving the liberals a much firmer grip on the Court.
Although Thomas did not speak to too many people about his financial concerns, he clearly spoke to the right people, because the news quickly made its way throughout conservative circles. And not long thereafter, the parade of gifts and other forms of support and assistance commenced. Easy-peasy!
These things were not bribes, per se, as they apparently weren't offered in exchange for specific concessions. But Thomas is clearly still a bought man. And he's an honest man by the definition of former (wildly corrupt) Secretary of War Simon Cameron: "one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." That said, the odds that Thomas ever suffers even the slightest punishment for any of this appear to be vanishingly slim. (Z)