A report from The New York Times details yet another luxury obtained by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas using funds from a wealthy associate. In this instance, it’s been revealed that he purchased a Prevost Marathon RV in 1999, using $267,230 received from Anthony Welters, a former executive at UnitedHealthCare who worked alongside Thomas in the Reagan administration, per the outlet. In a statement on the matter, Welters said that the funds were considered a loan and that it has since been “satisfied,” avoiding the phrasing “paid off,” which means it could have been a gift that would have then needed to be disclosed.
According to Insider, “Welters’ wife, Beatrice, served as an ambassador under Obama, to whom the couple donated between $200,000 and $500,000 during the 2008 presidential campaign and another $100,000 for his 2009 inauguration.”
Weighing in on the ethical issue of accepting such gifts (or “loans”), which have been popping up left and right in similar discoveries as this one in recent months, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who has sponsored new ethics legislation, commented last month that “The disclosures that have come out recently… really compel us to do something for the sake of the court.”
