Justices are generally required to publicly disclose any gifts they receive worth $415 or more.² But unsurprisingly, it appears Thomas threw ethics rules to the wind — all so he can enjoy trips on Crow’s superyacht, flights on his private jet, and access to his replica of Hagrid’s hut (yes, the one from the Harry Potter series) on the right-wing billionaire’s dime.

And, we need to mention that Thomas isn’t the only far-right extremist judge dominating the news headline right now as an example of our broken and out of control judiciary. In case you missed it, late Friday afternoon, a MAGA federal judge in Texas named Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered the the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reverse its 20-year-long approval of mifepristone — an essential element of timely, affordable, and effective abortion care.

Mifepristone is safe and effective (and, for the time being, still available — Kacsmaryk’s order, which contradicts another order out of Washington, must be hashed out in the courts). But a hand-picked Trump judge throwing millions of Americans’ abortion access into even greater peril less than a year after the Supreme Court’s Trump-packed supermajority threw out 50 years of precedent to overturn Roe v. Wade is a perfect illustration of the judicial mess we are in.

Thomas and Kacsmaryk are conservative partisans masquerading as jurists. They’re abusing their power to impose a regressive, extreme right-wing agenda. And it’s up to us and our elected leaders to stop them.

Republicans in the House are squandering millions of taxpayer dollars on sham committee hearings and partisan vendettas when they should be investigating real corruption like Clarence Thomas’s lavish vacations. But the Democrats control the Senate. And the integrity of our democracy demands that they conduct a real and credible investigation into Thomas' mockery of basic ethical standards.

The Democratic Leadership in the Senate must step up to the plate. They can use their oversight power to immediately hold emergency hearings, investigate these new findings, and if necessary, subpoena Justice Thomas to account for his outrageous and disconcerting actions.

We can’t allow politicians in robes to further torpedo the Court’s legitimacy by allowing them to violate norms and rules with impunity. Will you join us in calling on Congress to demand the accountability the justices refuse to provide?

Grateful as always for your support in this fight,

Sarah Lipton-Lubet

President, Take Back the Court Action Fund