After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends. He had recently started raising his young grandnephew, and Thomas’ wife was soliciting advice on how to handle the new expenses. The month before, the justice had borrowed $267,000 from a friend to buy a high-end RV.
At the resort, Thomas gave a speech at an off-the-record conservative conference. He found himself seated next to a Republican member of Congress on the flight home. The two men talked, and the lawmaker left the conversation worried that Thomas might resign.
Congress should give Supreme Court justices a pay raise, Thomas told him. If lawmakers didn’t act, “one or more justices will leave soon” — maybe in the next year.
At the time, Thomas’ salary was $173,600, equivalent to over $300,000 today. But he was one of the least wealthy members of the court, and on multiple occasions in that period, he pushed for ways to make more money. In other private conversations, Thomas repeatedly talked about removing a ban on justices giving paid speeches.
This always pops in my head when they issue some anti-privacy thing. None of them have to deal with normal border security, none of them are at risk of stop and frisk, none of them can lose their job because of some personal choice, none of them are seriously concerned that some cop will lie about drugs. Their salary and who knows how much bodyguards and aids puts them in a position that has no relationship to what the regular general public deals with.
He should be released into the streets of New York City in poor people clothes with no ID. Maybe he would learn something.