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$5M in Gifts to ALL Supreme Court Justices & Alitos Intimidates Neighbours
Watchdog: Of $5M in Gifts to ALL Supreme Court Justices, Thomas took $4M
Generational SCANDAL: Justice Thomas Raked in $4M in Gifts, Report Reveals
Former Neighbours Accuse Alitos of Using Power Imbalance to Harass and Intimidate Them
MSNRAW 7 JUN 2024
Supreme Court justices combined have received nearly $5 million in gifts over the past 20 years, and Justice Clarence Thomas received the lions' share.
Data release Thursday by judiciary watchdog Fix the Court found the high court's nine justices have accepted 344 gifts valued at almost $3 million since 2004. Adding 202 gifts for eight justices who have stepped down since then, that number grows to over $4.7 million.
Thomas, alone, has accepted 193 gifts valued at over $4 million. The report also noted the George H.W. Bush appointee received an additional 126 "likely but not confirmed gifts."
The report comes ahead of an expected release of the justices' financial disclosure records on Friday.
The group added Thomas only reported 27 of the gifts on his financial disclosures.
"Supreme Court justices should not be accepting gifts, let alone the hundreds of freebies worth millions of dollars they've received over the years," Fix the Court's Gabe Roth said in a statement.
"Public servants who make four times the median local salary, and who can make millions writing books on any topic they like, can afford to pay for their own vacations, vehicles, hunting excursions and club memberships."
Thomas' trips to the Bohemian Grove were the most expensive, with six of these visits accounting for almost $300,000.
Real estate mogul Harlan Crowe in 2007 paid for a $160,000 yacht cruise Thomas took around the Greek Greek Islands, and health care executive Anthony Welters paid off a $253,686 balance on the justice's RV loan.
Roth argued these wealthy gift givers are using their "generosity" to buy influence over the high court.
"The ethics crisis at the court won't begin to abate until justices adopt stricter gift acceptance rules," he said.
The late Justice Antonin Scalia received the second-highest gift total, with over $210,000 from 2004 until his death in 2016.
Justice Samuel Alito came in third with over $170,000.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg accepted over $59,000 in gifts, followed by Chief Justice John Roberts, who accepted over $49,000.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor accepted almost $16,000 in gifts, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson received almost $9,000.
The three Donald Trump appointees accepted the least in gifts, according to the report. Justice Neil Gorsuch took $2,450, Justice Amy Coney Barrett received $500, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh received a mere $100 worth of gifts.
The report found only two justices reported 100% of the gifts they received. Former Justice David Souter, who stepped down in 2009, reported one gift worth $349. Justice John Paul Stevens, who left the court in 2010, reported over 20 gifts worth $91,408.
Fix the Court noted its total gift calculation may be lower than the actual number, considering certain assets, like Scalia's hunting lodge, could not be verified.
Additionally, Scalia, Ginsburg and Justice William Rehnquist all died in office, so their numbers "might be undercounts."
The Supreme Court signed on to an ethics code last year, which states justices can only receive reasonable compensation and reimbursement of expenses from accepted activities.
Justices have to report gifts over a designated amount -- $480 in 2023 -- on financial disclosures per the new ethics code.
Alitos Intimidates Neighbours
Emily Baden said her former neighbours, Justice Samuel Alito and his wife Martha-Ann, used a "power imbalance" to "harass and intimidate" her and her husband.
Baden made the comments after news reports indicated that the two couples had a spat, which led to Martha-Ann flying a U.S. flag upside down like the Jan. 6 rioters.
Baden recalled one encounter with the Alitos to NPR.
"And then Mrs. Alito says something like, well, well, well, isn't it the f---ing fascists," she recalled. "And that was when I spoke back — I did obviously use an expletive. But I also said a lot of other things like how dare you behave this way?"
Baden has told CNN she regretted calling Martha-Ann Alito the c-word. Samuel Alito "stayed quiet the whole time," according to the NPR report. "Baden and her husband were a little freaked out because Martha-Ann Alito used their full names when she walked up. And they had never actually met."
Baden said, "The power imbalance between these people and myself is huge. They're choosing to harass and intimidate us when we are nothing to them."
Badens' husband notified the police. But other than contacting Alitos' security detail, nothing was done, she said.
Sam Alitos' Former Neighbour Talks About Harassment
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