Clarence Thomas was deep in debt when he hinted to a GOP lawmaker that he'd quit if he didn't get a pay raise: report

• Justice Clarence Thomas pushed a House Republican in 2000 to get justices a pay rise, a report says.
• ProPublica quoted Thomas telling the lawmaker that "one or more justices will leave soon" if there was no raise.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas alarmed a then-House Republican about the possibility he might resign in 2000 if Congress didn't raise justices' pay.

ProPublica reported that Thomas happened to be sitting next to Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, on a flight back from a Georgia resort after speaking at a conservative conference. Thomas, the publication reported, was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at the time of the conversation.

Thomas told Sterns that "one or more justices will leave soon" if lawmakers didn't give the lifetime appointed justices a raise from the $173,600 salary, ProPublica reported.

Ultimately, no such pay raise was passed. Congress has also not changed the ban on justices giving paid speeches. Like lawmakers, the best way for justices to supplement their income remains by writing a book. Law schools often clamor to enlist justices to teach. Associate Justices now make $285,400. In comparison, members of Congress receive $174,000, which has remained unchanged since 2009.

It wasn't for lack of trying. Stearns' office later sought to enlist lobbying firms to work on getting a judicial pay raise. He later gave a speech about the subject on the House floor.

"His importance as a conservative was paramount," Stearns told ProPublica in a recent interview. "We wanted to make sure he felt comfortable in his job, and he was being paid properly."

At the time of the reported conversation, Republicans held a narrow Senate majority. But Thomas' potential retirement would have been a major blow to conservatives. It's also not a guarantee a replacement would have been easily confirmed. While rare, at the time, senators could effectively force a Supreme Court nominee to receive 60 votes. Justice Samuel Alito was able to overcome this type of blockade in 2006. In 2017, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans changed the rules to ram through Democrats' efforts to stop Justice Neil Gorsuch's confirmation.

Thomas' concerns were eventually relayed to then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who, according to a confidential memo obtained by ProPublica, was asked by a top judiciary official how to handle the episode.

"I await your advice and counsel as to how you would like us to handle this delicate matter," L. Ralph Mecham, then the judiciary's top administrative official, wrote to Rehnquist in June 2000.

Mecham pointed out that congressional Democrats would likely see the effort as a way to appease conservative justices, adding that "they would be perfectly happy to have them leave."

"From a tactical point of view, given the public statements made largely by Democratic lobbyists, it will not take the Democrats and liberals in Congress very long to figure out the prime beneficiaries who might otherwise leave the Court presumably are Justices Thomas and Scalia.," he wrote.

It's unclear how Rehnquist responded. But as ProPublica pointed out, the conservative stalwart later included a plea about the high court's pay in his year-end message to lawmakers. While chief justices have little control over their colleagues, they do preside over the Judicial Conference, the policymaking body for federal courts. The annual report is closely watched given the Supreme Court's historic tendency to say little of consequence outside the opinions it releases.

"I will focus in this report on what I consider to be the most pressing issue facing the Judiciary: the need to increase judicial salaries," Rehnquist wrote.

ProPublica reported that the entire picture of Thomas' finances remained unclear. But it spent months documenting the lavish trips and gifts from close friends, including those with business before the court, that he ended up accepting. Thomas has denied any wrongdoing.

A spokesperson for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.