Justice Clarence Thomas Amends 1997-2009 Financial Forms

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas said Monday that he had misunderstood the filing and reporting instructions when he failed for 13 years to properly disclose his wife's income on federal financial forms. The justice then formally amended each of his forms, spanning the years 1997-2009, the accurate contents of which are required from the justices under the Ethics in Government Act.

Justice Thomas, an appointee of George H.W. Bush who is now in his 20th year on the high court, was put on the defensive over the weekend following a widely circulated report in Friday's Los Angeles Times that indicated he had failed to properly disclose nearly $700,000 of his wife's income from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank at which Virginia Thomas worked from 2003 to 2007.

The Times' report was in turn based upon allegations brought by Common Cause, a liberal advocacy group, which discovered significant discrepancies between Virginia Thomas' stated salary, as reflected in tax records from the Heritage Foundation, and Justice Thomas' reported value of his wife's earnings, as stated on the federal reporting forms. Common Cause reportedly came across the information while it was investigating Virginia Thomas' ties to political groups with business before the Supreme Court; and any interest conflicts such ties might generate for her husband.

Thomas' failure to accurately complete the forms is not nearly as serious as a failure to provide required information under federal tax laws. Penalties for failure to properly fill out federal tax forms can generate criminal charges of tax evasion, perjury, false statements or even mail fraud.

"It has come to my attention," Justice Thomas wrote Monday to federal officials, "that information regarding my spouse's employment required in Part III B of my financial disclosure report was inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions." There was no comment from the Supreme Court itself, either before or after Justice Thomas' response, or from any federal officials suggesting that a formal investigation was in order. It is unlikely now that one would begin.

"Justice Thomas sits on the highest court of the land, is called upon daily to understand and interpret the most complicated legal issues of our day and makes decisions that affect millions," Common Cause President Bob Edgar said after viewing the amendment. "It is hard to see how he could have misunderstood the simple directions of a federal disclosure form. We find his excuse is implausible."

Even after the justice's response, some questions remained in Washington about why Thomas' 2009 financial forms did not include any reported income from Virginia Thomas' work that year for Liberty Central, the conservative group associated with the Tea Party and opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the constitutionality of which may be determined by the Supreme Court. "We also continue to be puzzled by omission of Liberty Central as Virginia Thomas's most recent employer," Common Cause's Edgar told ABC News.

The justices are required under the Ethics in Government Act to disclose some but not all of their financial information. On the official "Financial Disclosure Report" each justice is required to fill out annually, the jurists certify that "all information given . . . (incliuding information pertaining to my spouse and minor or dependent children, if any) is accurate, true and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that any information not reported was withheld because it met applicable statutory provisions permitting non-disclosure." Such provisions permit the withholding of financial information about trusts or "widely held investment funds," among other exceptions.

The form Justice Thomas filled out stated: "Any individual who knowingly and wilfully falsifies or fails to file this report may be subject to civil and criminal sanctions." The Ethics Act states that the "maximum penalty for failure to properly fill out the disclosure forms is $10,000. The law reads: "The Attorney General may bring a civil action in any appropriate United States district court against any individual who knowingly and willfully falsifies or who knowingly and willfully fails to file or report any information that such individual is required to report."