Clarence Thomas is a lucky fellow.
Though born poor and black in a small Gullah community in Georgia, his first language Geechee, he's come a long way.
Assisted, perhaps, by the liberal affirmative action policies he so despises, he made it to Yale Law School. After graduation, he, like all the conservative members of the present Supreme Court, worked in Republican administrations.
Despite an undistinguished record as the Reagan-appointed chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the then 43-year-old Thomas was appointed by George Bush père to a lifetime appeals court position.
Then, after 19 months as an indifferent circuit judge, he was nominated for the supreme court seat of the retiring, and truly-distinguished, African-American lawyer Thurgood Marshall.
At this point Thomas's ascent hit turbulence, with numerous accusations of sexual improprieties during his spell at the EEOC, most notably, the complaint of one employee, the black lawyer Anita Hill.
Republicans played the colour-card to wedge him on the court, and the lucky judge squeaked in with the votes of 52 senators, at a time when there were 56 Democrats and only 44 Republicans.
On the court, Thomas has pursued a legal philosophy so reactionary that, until recently, he seldom found himself in the majority and rarely were his dissents joined by other justices. He was a lonely figure who famously never spoke at oral arguments.
Thomas did what he wanted ethically. He didn't report gifts or favours, as the law required, until 2004 when the LA Times disclosed his extraordinary gifts from Dallas developer Harlan Crow; thereafter, Thomas continued to receive Crow's favours, he just didn't disclose or report them - problem solved!
Clarence and Ginni Thomas: on the take
Now it seems Clarence Thomas's luck may have run out. A series of investigations by ProPublica has revealed that the connections of the justice and developer have only intensified over the years.
Slate called it quid pro Crow. Now, evidence is emerging that Harlan Crow has actually benefited from his gifts.
It's not just hospitality and holiday, yacht cruises or stays at Crow's tacky retreat in the Adirondacks, but things of more material value, e.g real estate and cash contributions for family members, like his wife Virginia "Ginni" Lamp. Justice Abe Fortas was forced-off the court for far less in 1969.
Thomas was only following in the footsteps of Nino Scalia, who chalked up 89 free hunting trips with rich donors (and litigants), and actually died in bed at an $800-a-night hunting lodge in Texas.
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