Clarence Thomas
2022
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Pull out the substance of this filing.
What was filed
21
investments
1
positions
0
gifts
0
agreements
0
debts
4
reimbursements
1
income
1
spouse income
Named parties
- Horatio Alger Association
- Harlan Crow
- Hatch Center
- Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason
- Liberty Consulting, Inc. - salary and benefits
As filed
MONY Flexible Premium Adjustable Life n/ k/a AXA Universal Life Policy — Dividend
MONY Whole - n/k/a/ AXA Universal Life Policy — Dividend — Redeemed
Equitable Variable Universal Life Policy Y
70% S&P 500 Index account — Dividend
30% Guaranteed account — Interest
Wells Fargo IRA CD — Interest
Ginger Holdings, LLC (formerly Ginger, LTD, Partnership) — Rent
Congressional Federal Credit Union (Cash Accounts) Y — Interest
Liberty Consulting, Inc. — None
Vanguard IRA (H)
VANGUARD FEDERAL MONEY MARKET FUND — Dividend
VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL CL VEMAX — Dividend
VANGUARD 500 INDEX ADMIRAL CL VFIAX — Dividend — Sold (part)
VANGUARD HEALTHCARE INVESTOR CL (VGHCX) — Dividend
VANGUARD SMALL CAP VALUE INDEX ADMIRAL CL (VSIAX) — Dividend
VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK INDEX ADMIRAL CL (VTIAX) — Dividend
VANGUARD VALUE INDEX ADMIRAL CL — Dividend — Sold (part)
VANGUARD WELLINGTON ADMIRAL CL (VWENX) Y — Dividend — Buy
VANGUARD WELLESLEY INCOME ADMIRAL CL (VWIAX) Y — Dividend — Buy
MORGAN STANLEY BANK NA SLC, UT CD FDIC #32992 CPN 2.800% DUE 3/14/22 — Interest — Redeemed
CENTERSTATE BANK WINTER HAVEN FL CD FDIC#33555 CPN 1.000% DUE 3/31/25 — Interest
Honorary Member, Board of Directors, Horatio Alger Association
Reimbursement — Harlan Crow — 2/3/2022 - 2/5/2022 — Dallas, Texas — Keynote Speaker at American Enterprise Institute’s Conference at Old Parkland — Transportation (only return flight) and meals. Flew private on return trip due to unexpected ice storm.
Reimbursement — Hatch Center — 3/10/2022 - 3/12/2022 — Salt Lake City, Utah — Featured Speaker — Transportation, meals, and lodging
Reimbursement — Harlan Crow — 5/12/2022 - 5/14/2022 — Dallas, Texas — Keynote Speaker at American Enterprise Institute’s Conference at Old Parkland — Transportation and meals - See Part VIII.
Reimbursement — Harlan Crow — 7/7/2022 - 7/13/2022 — Keese Mill, NY — Guests of source — Transportation, meals and lodging - See Part VIII.
Income — 12/20/2022 — Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason — $12,000.00
Spouse's income — 2022 — Liberty Consulting, Inc. - salary and benefits
During the preparation and filing of this report, filer sought and received guidance from the Supreme Court’s Legal Office, the Counselor to the Chief Justice,
the staff of the Judicial Conference Financial Disclosure Committee (“Committee”), and personal counsel. Filer continues to work with Supreme Court officials
and the Committee staff for guidance on whether he should further amend his reports from any prior years. Based on those discussions, the information below
addresses the new travel disclosure requirements which began coverage with calendar year 2022, personal bank accounts and his spouse’s life insurance that were
inadvertently omitted from prior reports for the covered period 2017 thru 2021, mistaken name of spouse’s family real estate holding, and a real estate transaction
that predated the covered period.
TRAVEL
As relates to the personal hospitality reporting exemption, filer has included all reportable travel on his Calendar Year 2022 Report, in accordance with the
new rules that went into effect on March 14, 2023, as advised by the Supreme Court’s Legal Office, the Counselor to the Chief Justice, the staff of the Judicial
Conference Financial Disclosure Committee, and personal counsel.
On March 14, 2023, the Judicial Conference provided new guidance on the “personal hospitality” exemption to explicitly state for the first time that “transportation
that substitutes for commercial transportation” will no longer be considered exempt from reporting under that provision. As a result, filer will report any such
trips, beginning with this filing for calendar year 2022.
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 guidance, under the section titled, “Gifts of transportation, lodging, food, or entertainment,” filers were instructed to:
Exclude gifts received as the personal hospitality of any individual. The Act defines ‘personal hospitality of any individual’ as ‘hospitality extended for a non-
business purpose by an individual, not a corporation or an organization, at the personal residence of that individual or his family or on property or facilities owned
by that individual or his family.
Guide to Judiciary Policies and Procedures (1984) at 843-44.
The Judicial Conference, which is charged by the Ethics in Government Act, 5 U.S.C. app. §§ 13101-13111, with implementing this law for the judiciary, has
provided written guidance through its regulations and advice interpreting the statute that such travel need not be reported. In fact, filer is not aware of anything in
the 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.
For example, Judge Raymond Randolph, who served on the Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee from 1992-98, including as chairman from 1995-98,
received guidance in 2006 from Judicial Conference staff, as reflected in contemporaneous notes, that he did not have to report travel on a private jet and at a
lodge based on the personal hospitality exemption. Filer was also so advised by Conference staff, and in conversations with court officers and colleagues early in
his tenure on the Court.
In Part IV, Line 3: With advice of the Administrative Office, flights were reported as advised. Because of the increased security risk following the Dobbs opinion
leak, the May flights were by private plane for official travel as filer’s security detail recommended noncommercial travel whenever possible.
In Part IV, Line 4: Flights to and from Adirondacks by private plane and lodging, food, and entertainment at the Adirondacks property, were reportable under and
in compliance with the new guidance and, according to advice from the staff of the Judicial Conference Financial Disclosure Committee (July 10), to be listed
under “reimbursements” not “gifts.” This is consistent with previous filings by other filers.
BANK ACCOUNTS, SPOUSE'S LIFE INSURANCE, & FAMILY REAL ESTATE HOLDING
2022: Part VII, Line 3: Life insurance policy, owned by spouse, was inadvertently omitted from prior reports during the covered period. Part VII, Line 7: On or
around February 17, 2006, Ginger LTD, Partnership changed its legal name to its present name of Ginger Holdings LLC. The name change was in conjunction
with a conversion to an LLC from a limited partnership as permitted under Nebraska state law. Due to the similarity in names, filer inadvertently carried the old
name on prior reports during the covered period. Part VII, Line 8: Personal bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union were inadvertently omitted in
prior years due to a misinterpretation of the rules. Filer believed that personal bank accounts were exempt from reporting disclosure.
Filer discloses the following assets that were inadvertently omitted from his reports during the covered period 2017 thru 2021:
2021: Bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union were inadvertently omitted. Combined bank account balances at year-end were under $55,000 and
earned less than $200 in interest. Life insurance policy of spouse held through Equitable was inadvertently omitted. Year-end cash value was under $100,000 and
earned $5,000 or less in income.
2020: Bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union were inadvertently omitted. Combined bank account balances at year-end were under $110,000 and
earned less than $400 in interest. Life insurance policy of spouse held through Equitable was inadvertently omitted. Year-end cash value was under $100,000 and
earned $2,500 or less in income.
2019: Bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union were inadvertently omitted. Combined bank account balances at year-end were under $50,000 and
earned less than $400 in interest. Life insurance policy of spouse held through Equitable was inadvertently omitted. Year-end cash value was under $100,000
and earned $2,500 or less in income. The policy at Equitable had previously been held at MONY Life Insurance Company of America but was terminated on
or around December 16, 2019, and rolled over into Equitable in a tax-free exchange under Internal Revenue Code §1035. Prior to the rollover, the MONY Life
Insurance Company of America life insurance policy had a cash value of under $100,000 and earned $2,500 or less in income.
2018: Bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union were inadvertently omitted. Combined bank account balances at year-end were under $70,000 and
earned less than $300 in interest. Life insurance policy of spouse held through MONY Life Insurance Company of America was inadvertently omitted. Year-end
cash value was under $100,000 and earned $2,500 or less in income.
2017: Bank accounts at Congressional Federal Credit Union were inadvertently omitted. Combined bank account balances at year-end were under $10,000 and
earned less than $300 in interest. Life insurance policy of spouse held through MONY Life Insurance Company of America was inadvertently omitted. Year-end
cash value was under $100,000 and earned $2,500 or less in income.
SAVANNAH REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION
Although outside the covered period, filer provides the following supplemental information regarding the 2014 disposition of certain real estate interests he held
with members of his family in Savannah, Georgia. In 1984, filer inherited a 1/3 interest in three properties: his mother’s residence and two additional houses on
the same street.
In 2014, Mr. Harlan Crow, a longtime friend of filer and his wife, bought all three properties for $133,000, along with other houses/lots on the same street. Filer
and his wife had put between $50,000 to $75,000 into his mother’s home in capital improvements over the years, and therefore, the transaction amounted to a
capital loss.
Filer had previously reported his interest in two of the Savannah properties (excluding his mother’s residence) in the years when they generated rental income.
Once these properties no longer generated any rental income, filer was advised by Committee staff to remove the two properties from his disclosure forms.
However, filer inadvertently failed to realize that the “sales transaction” for the final disposition of the three properties triggered a new reportable transaction in
2014, even though this sale resulted in a capital loss.
This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.