Clarence Thomas raised concerns about salary in 2000: Reports

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised concerns to congressional lawmakers about higher salaries for justices more than two decades ago, according to multiple media reports.

In a memo to then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist obtained by both ProPublica and The New York Times, another court official, Leonidas Ralph Mecham, details a conversation Thomas had with then-Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) in 2000 about his apparent push for higher compensation for Supreme Court justices.

ProPublica’s investigation found the conversation between Thomas and Stearns took place on a flight returning from an off-the-record conservative conference in Georgia. Friends of Thomas told ProPublica the justice and his wife had recently started raising his grandnephew and were asking for advice on how to manage new expenses.

Thomas told Stearns “one or more justices will leave soon” if there is no higher compensation, according to the memo from Mecham, the former director of the Administrative Office (AO) of the U.S. Courts.

At the time, Thomas made about $173,000, equivalent to more than $300,000 today, ProPublica reported, noting he was one of the least wealthy members on the bench at the time.

Following the conversation, Stearns was worried Thomas might resign, ProPublica reported, prompting him to reach out to Podesta.com, formerly Podesta Associates, which represented the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Former Judge David Hansen, who served as chair of the Judicial Branch Committee at the time, said he was surprised at Thomas’s public comments and that the justice had not previously discussed the matter with him, the memo stated.

Chip Tangen of Podesta.com then asked the AO general counsel’s office for help in drafting legislation for Stearns, who planned to offer an amendment to delink Supreme Court justices’ pay from the pay of all other judges, Congress and the Cabinet, the memo stated.

Writing to Rehnquist, Mecham said his office was “reluctant” to assist on what he called a “delicate matter.”

Stearns went on to create a commission focused on studying the pay needs of Supreme Court justices and reporting back to Congress, which could then hold a vote on increased compensation, per the memo, but Congress never did give the justices a major pay raise.

The Hill reached out to the AO for a comment on the memo.

The memo provides a deeper look into the financial concerns of Thomas, who now finds himself embroiled in controversy over accepting undisclosed gifts and trips in the years that followed the document.

The Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct last month, in the wake of alleged ethics violations by Thomas and other justices and amid heightened scrutiny over the court’s standards for undisclosed gifts and trips.