Clarence Thomas cut off contact with man he raised 'as a son' — now he faces decades in prison

12 June 2024

When he was six years old, Mark Martin was legally adopted by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, who raised him from ages six to 19. But according to Martin, they've both cut off all contact with him, and now he's facing up to 25 years in prison.

Business Insider recently interviewed Martin from the South Carolina jail where he's being held without bail. Martin, who was arrested for allegedly trafficking 400 grams of meth and heroin in 2021, was also arrested for drug trafficking and gun possession in June of last year. Because South Carolina considers those "violent" crimes, Martin is ineligible for bond. He hasn't even entered a plea, due to a backlog in the Palmetto State's court system.

During a 2007 interview, Thomas told C-SPAN that he was raising Martin "as a son." At the time, Martin was 16, and was attending Randolph-Macon Academy — an elite military prep school. He also attended the outdoors-themed Hidden Lake Academy (HLA), which Business Insider reported was geared toward "troubled teens." Billionaire Harlan Crow, who is a longtime benefactor of Thomas, paid the tuition for both schools. Because Thomas did not report the tuition payments on his ethics disclosure forms, the total amount Crow paid remains unknown. ProPublica estimated that the cost of four years at both schools was at least $150,000.

"I guess they looked into Randolph-Macon Academy because Harlan Crow actually graduated from there, so I guess that was behind their decision to send me there — and then apparently he helped finance the HLA trip, too," Martin told Business Insider.

Clarence and Ginni Thomas reportedly cut off contact with Martin when he entered his teenage years, and Martin said the two "just didn't have time to deal with" him when he was in high school. This is despite Thomas walking roughly the same path Martin did, as he was raised by his grandfather, Myers Anderson, from the age of seven years old.

"For me, in so many ways, it's rewarding because it's brought me, again, full circle," Thomas told C-SPAN in 2007. "I was about the age my grandfather was when he took my brother and me. And Mark was about the age my brother and I were when he took us in."

And like Martin, Thomas was a high-maintenance teen, with his grandfather kicking him out of house in 1968 after Thomas dropped out of college following his freshman year. However, Thomas has said that Martin was "more of a challenge" than he was as a teen.

"I think the thing that I'll be able to do is, I'll be able to always look my grandfather in the eye and say that I did for my great-nephew what my grandparents did for us — my brother and me," Thomas added.

Martin, who is now in his thirties, has four children of his own. He said while he understands why his great-uncle and great-aunt distanced themselves from him given their position and his criminal record, he said he wished his own kids could have a relationship with them.

"I actually don't know if they know that I'm locked up — I'm not sure they'd care too much," Martin said. "I've seen — I've probably seen them two times, maybe three times, over the last 14 years."

Click here to read Business Insider's report in full (subscription required).

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