- John Oliver is offering Clarence Thomas $1 million a year to leave the US Supreme Court bench.
- The comedian highlighted what he said were Thomas' many conflicts of interest.
- "HBO is not putting up the money for this. I am personally on the hook," Oliver said.
John Oliver says he will give Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a million bucks a year if he quits the Supreme Court immediately.
"This is not a joke," he said on the latest episode of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," which aired Sunday. "This is real. A million dollars a year until you or I die."
Besides offering Thomas money, Oliver said he would also throw in a $2.4 million motor coach. The offer, he said, would be valid only for the next 30 days.
"So that's the offer. A million dollars a year and a brand new condo on wheels, and all you have to do in return is sign the contract and get the fuck off the Supreme Court," Oliver said on the program.
Oliver made the hefty offer during the season premiere of his Emmy-award-winning show. Oliver spent most of the episode discussing the Supreme Court and the issues he said were plaguing it — one of them being Thomas.
During the segment, Oliver accused Thomas of having various conflicts of interest, including accepting lavish vacations from a Republican Party megadonor and refusing to recuse himself on cases involving his wife, Ginni.
Associate Justices such as Thomas earn an annual salary of $298,500 and hold their appointments for life.
In 2023, ProPublica published several reports about Thomas' close relationship with several billionaires, including the real-estate developer Harlan Crow and the oil tycoon Paul "Tony" Novelly. Thomas accepted gifts from these businessmen without disclosing them, ProPublica reported.
In 2001, The New York Post reported that Thomas said during a speech that he thought the job of a Supreme Court justice was "not worth doing for what they pay."
"The job is not worth doing for the grief. But it is worth doing for the principle," Thomas told the Bar Association in Savannah, Georgia, according to the Post.
Oliver says he now has a simple solution for Thomas, which pays well, too.
"Clarence Thomas is arguably the most consequential justice on the court right now, and he's never really seemed to like the job. He's said it's not worth doing 'for the grief,'" Oliver said of Thomas during his Sunday show. "So what if he could keep the luxury perks that he clearly enjoys without having to endure all of that grief?"
Oliver said he'd spoken to legal experts, who told him his offer was "somehow legal" and "there are no rules in place" to stop him from making such an offer.
"Let me be clear. HBO is not putting up the money for this. I am personally on the hook," Oliver said. "You can make me really regret this. I could be doing standup tours to pay for your retirement for years."
Representatives for Thomas didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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