President Joe Biden openly criticized Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a rare instance of a president taking aim at a specific member of the Supreme Court. During an interview with The New Yorker, Biden discussed the Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and was asked about the possibility of the Court overturning cases related to same-sex marriage and contraception.
Biden expressed doubt about a majority supporting such actions but suggested that “a couple on the Court would go considerably further,” singling out “the guy who likes to spend a lot of time on yachts.” When asked if he meant Thomas, Biden reportedly grinned in response.
In the past year, reports have emerged about Justice Thomas’s relationships with wealthy friends, particularly billionaire Harlan Crow. Thomas has been linked to Crow’s private jet, yacht, and properties, raising questions about potential ethical concerns. Thomas defended the relationship, emphasizing the long-standing friendship and asserting that such personal hospitality from friends not involved in Court matters is not reportable.
“As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” continued Thomas. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
It is uncommon, though not unprecedented, for presidents to directly criticize individual judges. Biden’s critique of Thomas is noteworthy given their history; Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during Thomas’s contentious 1991 confirmation process, where Thomas faced accusations of sexual harassment, and he later characterized the hearings as a “high-tech lynching.”
