1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to investigate Justice Clarence Thomas for potential violations of Virginia Code Section 58.1-348, which makes filing a false income tax return with intent to defraud a Class 6 felony punishable by one to five years in prison. Between 2004 and 2023, Thomas accepted confirmed gifts worth an estimated $4.2 million from billionaires who entered his life after he joined the Supreme Court. Fix the Court documented this total, which is nearly ten times the combined gifts received by every other sitting Justice during the same period. These gifts included superyacht cruises through Indonesia, private jet flights on a Bombardier Global 5000, and annual stays at private resorts from Dallas real estate magnate Harlan Crow and other wealthy benefactors. The legal question centers on whether these transfers qualify as tax-free gifts under the Supreme Court's own precedent in Commissioner v. Duberstein, which requires gifts to come from "detached and disinterested generosity." When politically active billionaires with interests before the Court provide millions over decades, and when payments flow through business entities like Crow Holdings LLC that take tax deductions, these transfers appear to be taxable income rather than gifts. ProPublica's IRS data showed Crow's yacht company reported losses totaling approximately $8 million from 2003 to 2015, with about half flowing to Crow personally as deductions. Having a Supreme Court Justice aboard helped characterize the yacht as serving business purposes. The evidence of intent is compelling. In 1997, Thomas disclosed a private jet flight from Crow on his financial disclosure form, then stopped disclosing such trips for more than twenty years despite accepting them virtually every year. The Senate Judiciary Committee's December 2024 report concluded that Thomas "chose to ignore legal obligations to disclose lavish gifts after media scrutiny over his disclosures in 2004." That word "chose" indicates deliberate intent. Tax years 2020 through 2024 remain within the five-year statute of limitations. An investigation with subpoena power could obtain Thomas's actual tax returns, Crow Holdings financial records, and testimony from his tax preparer. No constitutional provision grants Supreme Court Justices immunity from state criminal prosecution for personal conduct. In 1973, a federal jury convicted sitting Judge Otto Kerner on tax fraud charges while he remained on the bench. I urge you to open a formal investigation into whether Justice Thomas filed false Virginia income tax returns. If the evidence supports prosecution, I ask that you pursue charges and, upon conviction, seek his removal from office. The integrity of our judicial system depends on equal application of the law.