Clarence Thomas Did Not Disclose Additional Trips From Harlan Crow According To Probe
Written by djfrosty on December 23, 2024
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was revealed to have not disclosed a pair of trips paid for by a billionaire patron, according to a new report released over the weekend. Democrats in the Senate released their findings after a 20-month probe of ethical practices of the highest court in the land.
The New York Times examined the 93-page report from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Party members which was supported with around 800 pages of additional documents. Among the committee’s findings were two previously undisclosed trips in 2021 taken by Justice Clarence Thomas and provided by real estate mogul, Harlan Crow of Texas.
One trip shows Thomas flying from Nebraska to Saranac, N.Y. in July 2021 on a private chartered flight to visit Crow’s retreat in the upstate region for five days. The other undisclosed trip took place the same year in October when Crow invited Thomas to his yacht for an overnight trip after flying the justice from Washington to New Jersey.
The committee’s report and its findings come after Thomas had previously refiled some of his past financial forms, with the additional details coming forth after the committee threatened to present Crow with a subpoena.
A spokesperson for Crow shared a statement saying that Crow handed over the information about the trips without resistance and called the inquiry into his dealings with Thomas “political, partisan, and unconstitutional from the start.”
Justice Samuel Alito Jr. also didn’t disclose a 2008 trip to Alaska via private jet that was paid for by a billionaire hedge fund manager. Alito said that according to the rules at the time, he was not obligated to share details of that trip.
The outlet rightly notes that the Supreme Court has operated for much of its existence without an ethics code in place, an approach that does not extend to the lower courts.
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Photo: Getty