John Oliver offers to pay Clarence Thomas $1m a year if he resigns from supreme court
John Oliver offers to pay Clarence Thomas $1m a year if he resigns from supreme court
Late-night host gives justice, under fire over undisclosed donations, 30 days to accept offer, which includes a tour bus
Oliver made the proposal on Sunday’s episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, saying the supreme court justice had 30 days to accept or it would expire.
The British-born comedian’s offer came after a steady drumbeat of media investigations in the previous several months established that Thomas failed to disclose that political benefactors bought him lavish vacation travel and real estate for his mother. Thomas also failed to disclose – as required – that he allowed school fees for a family member to be paid off and had been provided a loan to buy a luxury motor coach, all after openly complaining about the need to raise supreme court justices’ salaries.
As a result, Thomas’s impartiality came into question after he sided with the contentious ruling that eliminated the federal abortion rights once provided by the Roe v Wade case.
He also recently listened to arguments over whether Donald Trump can be removed from states’ ballots in the presidential election after the former president’s supporters – whom he told to “fight like hell” – staged the January 6 attack at the US Capitol in Washington DC. Thomas resisted pressure to recuse himself from such matters, even though his wife, Ginni Thomas, is a conservative political activist who has endorsed false claims from Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen from him.
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Associate Supreme Court Justice annual salary: $285,400
So if he turns it down, he either really likes being a judge (he doesn't act like it) or he's got a financial incentive beyond his salary to stay.
And I'm guessing he'll turn it down.
We're stuck with him till 2034 at least, he had this to say following his confirmation:
"The liberals made my life miserable for 43 years," a former clerk renmembered Thomas who was 43 years old when confirmed saying, according to The New York Times. "And I'm going to make their lives miserable for 43 years."
Yes, but he also lies all the time, so I wouldn't exactly take than on face value.
I wonder what ways he thinks liberals made his life miserable. Honestly sounds like this idiot doesn’t even know what the word ‘liberal’ means.
He didn't like people thinking he got into law school etc because he was black. He fervently hates affirmative action.
He hates it because he's literally one of the people whom affirmative action helped put him in a position he is totally unqualified for (Supreme Court Justice).
His evidence that it is bad and doesn't work is... himself.
What was that thing about conservatives and projection.... Oh yeah: "It's always projection."
What's funny is the only people who think he got in that way are conservatives lol.
Maybe initially only conservatives thought that, but as a not-conservative I've got to admit that the way he's been acting is making a more and more compelling case for it.
I dunno. Oliver has guaranteed him a cool $1mil per year, until either Thomas or John dies (out of his own pocket no less!!), AND thrown in a brand new, top of the line Prevost Marathon motor coach.
It's a mouth-watering deal.
Which he will turn down. If you watch the episode you'll see all the perks he enjoys from being who he is. Which of course he'd stop being invited to, if he retired from the position.
True (and I watched the episode), but it doesn't take away from the fact it is a sweet deal. I bet you Thomas considers it, even if he chooses not to take it.
It was scary seeing the stark difference between when he was begging his legislative colleagues that they need to raise their pay and his more recent interviews about how they are paid.
It's clear as day that even though he isn't getting paid more, he's getting paid plenty.
The funny thing was that I almost couldn't get a security clearance because I had so much debt in my early career days. The fact that there is zero oversight over the Supreme Court is just baffling.
Yup.
Rules for thee, not for me. Maybe that should become part of the swearing in oath so they can be honest at least once.
Conservatives would counter 10M to stay on the court and consider it a deal.
At least it would make the point of whomever pays more gets to own the judges completely moot.
Third option: he turns it down because he likes STIGGINIT too much.
What's funny is, NPR did an interview with a guy who wrote a book on Thomas, and one of the things he points out is how much Thomas hates affirmative action because of a deep-seated insecurity about his own accomplishments.
Which becomes the ultimate irony: the only reason Thomas is on SCOTUS is because Republicans wanted a black man to replace Thurgood Marshall, but without all the pesky "morals" and "ethics." In other words, he obtained the pinnacle of his career... Because of his skin color.
No wonder he hates himself.
I truly believe Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks is the best portrayal of Thomas anyone has done.
Even if he decided it was a good deal, if he cares about the legacy of his past decisions at least seeming legitimate, he has to turn it down. We all know he’s for sale, but he loses deniability if he straight up sells out.
if he was concerned with anything he's done seeming legitimate, He probably wouldnt have taken all the bribes and shit that we know of thus far.
Should have offered 100 million. You're right. He won't sell out his legacy for a million, but I bet he would for 100.
He already sold out his legacy ffs
He sold his "legacy" for a luxury fishing trip.
That was Alito. Thomas sold his legacy for a bus.
I mean, fishing can be a really great time.
Somehow I don't think John Oliver can quite afford to straight up offer someone 100 million dollars.
But this is the thing that's dangerous about this otherwise hilarious premise.
If you can pay judges to leave so you can stack the court with your people... The court is even more fucked.
I have a good feeling it's also illegal. How is this not a bribe to a political figure?
I'd guess the shows lawyers looked into this.
Putin has deep pockets.
Don't even need to sell yourself to foreign actors. There's plenty of cash floating around the Microsofts, Eli Lillys, Berkshire Hathaways, Proctor & Gambles, et al.
You can take all the "lobbying" you want and remain a Faithful Patriotic Americantm
And you think that’s all the money he’s getting?
That was my point. Turning it down either means he just loves judging so much that he's willing to do it until he dies or he has a financial incentive worth more than a million dollars a year.
What makes you think he doesn't fucking love the ever loving shit out of being a SCOTUS justice?
He's a ruthless partisan cynic in one of the most powerful political positions in the world. He gets to write complete drivel and horseshit and get praised and loved by all of his (very) wealthy friends for doing it. He can utter a single sentence and send a thousand voluenteer federalist society grad students down a research rabbit hole to come up with absurd tenuous legal justification for whatever new bench legislation he comes up with, then he gets to crib their work and claim it as his own in opinions.
He doesn't like being CRITICIZED. But he also can just... ignore it. It's not like accountability will come knocking.