This extraordinary profile of Clarence and Ginni Thomasโhe a Supreme Court justice, she among other things an avid supporter of the January 6 insurrectionโis a masterclass in everything from mustering archival material to writing the hell out of a story:
There is a certain rapport that cannot be manufactured. โThey go on morning runs,โ reports a 1991 piece in the Washingtonย Post.ย โThey take after-dinner walks. Neighbors say you can see them in the evening talking, walking up the hill. Hand in hand.โ Thirty years later, Virginia Thomas, pining for the overthrow of the federal government in texts to the presidentโs chief of staff, refers, heartwarmingly, to Clarence Thomas as โmy best friend.โ (โThatโs what I call him, and he is my best friend,โ she later told theย House Select Committee to Investigateย theย January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.) In the cramped corridors of a roving RV, they summer together. They take, together, lavish trips funded by an activist billionaire and fail, together, to report the gift. Bonnie and Clyde were performing intimacy; every line crossed was its own profession of love. Refusing to recuse oneself and then objecting, alone among nine justices, to the revelation of potentially incriminating documents regarding a coup in which a spouse is implicated is many things, and one of those things isย romantic.
โEvery year it gets better,โ Ginni told a gathering of Turning Point USAโoriented youths in 2016. โHe put me on a pedestal in a way I didnโt know was possible.โ Clarence had recently gifted her a Pandora charm bracelet. โIt has like everything I love,โ she said, โall these love things and knots and ropes and things about our faith and things about our home and things about the country. But my favorite is thereโs a little pixie, like Iโm kind of a pixie to him, kind of a troublemaker.โ
A pixie. A troublemaker. It is impossible, once you fully imagine this bracelet bestowed upon the former Virginia Lamp on the 28th anniversary of her marriage to Clarence Thomas, this pixie-and-presumably-American-flag-bedecked trinket, to see it as anything but crucial to understanding the current chaotic state of the American project. Here is a piece of jewelry in which symbols for love and battle are literally intertwined. Here is a story about the way legitimate racial grievance and determined white ignorance can reinforce one another, tending toward an extremism capable, in this case, of discrediting an entire branch of government. No one can unlock the mysteries of the human heart, but the external record is clear: Clarence and Ginni Thomas have, for decades, sustained the happiest marriage in the American Republic, gleeful in the face of condemnation, thrilling to the revelry of wanton corruption, untroubled by the burdens of biological children or adherence to legal statute. Here is how they do it.
Today in the recurring series โAmerica is Brokenโ โ meaning, the news โ three reporters at Pro Publica reveal that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted lavish gifts from Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican donor. Thomas has flown on Crowโs private jet many times, gone on vacations to Indonesia and New Zealand on Crowโs yacht, and spent time at Crowโs compound in the Adirondacks. In doing so, Thomas has violated norms pertaining to judgesโ conduct and possibly broken federal law:
Soon after Crow met Thomas three decades ago, he began lavishing the justice with gifts, including a $19,000 Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass, which Thomas disclosed. Recently, Crow gave Thomas a portrait of the justice and his wife, according to Tarabay, who painted it. Crowโs foundation also gave $105,000 to Yale Law School, Thomasโ alma mater, for the โJustice Thomas Portrait Fund,โ tax filings show.
Crow said that he and his wife have funded a number of projects that celebrate Thomas. โWe believe it is important to make sure as many people as possible learn about him, remember him and understand the ideals for which he stands,โ he said.
To trace Thomasโ trips around the world on Crowโs superyacht, ProPublica spoke to more than 15 former yacht workers and tour guides and obtained records documenting the shipโs travels.
On the Indonesia trip in the summer of 2019, Thomas flew to the country on Crowโs jet, according to another passenger on the plane. Clarence and Ginni Thomas were traveling with Crow and his wife, Kathy. Crowโs yacht, the Michaela Rose, decked out with motorboats and a giant inflatable rubber duck, met the travelers at a fishing town on the island of Flores.