Clarence Thomas Discloses Two Additional Harlan Crow Trips in Supreme Court Filing

Headline: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas amended his 2019 financial disclosure on Friday to include two luxury vacations gifted by real estate magnate Harlan Crow. This move comes as Thomas faces criticism for potential ethics concerns, amid reports that he has accepted vacations and other extravagant gifts from Crow for years without disclosing them.

Key Facts:

• Thomas noted in his 2023 financial disclosure, posted on Friday, that he amended his 2019 statement to add two trips to the “reimbursement” section, covering transportation, food, lodging, and other hospitality expenses provided to justices.
• The justice reported two trips in July 2019 paid for by Crow: a trip to Bali, Indonesia, where Crow covered Thomas’ food and lodging, and a stay at Crow’s private club in California, where Crow also provided for Thomas’ food and lodging expenses.
• ProPublica first reported in April 2023 that Thomas had accepted luxury vacations from Crow and his wife Kathy without disclosing them—part of a series of gifts from the real estate magnate. Thomas claimed he was advised at the time that he didn’t need to report them.
• Thomas recently disclosed three trips paid for by Crow in 2022, stating in his disclosure that he reported “all reportable travel” as required under new rules from March 2022, which mandate justices to disclose “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation.”
• The justice did not report any hospitality gifts in 2023. The only other gifts he reported were two photo albums valued at $2,000, given by Terrence Giroux, who leads the exclusive Horatio Alger Association that Thomas belongs to, and his wife Barbara.

Forbes Valuation:

• Forbes estimates Thomas has a net worth of approximately $4 million, with about $2 million tied up in his and his wife’s government pensions.

Tangent:

• Other justices also reported gifts in their 2023 financial disclosure forms. Notably, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported receiving four concert tickets from Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, valued at $3,711.84.

Big Number:

• $4 million: The total value of confirmed gifts Thomas has received while serving as a Supreme Court justice, according to a tally by judicial advocacy group Fix the Court. This amount constitutes the majority of the $4.8 million in gifts received by the 17 most recent Supreme Court justices overall. Including likely but unconfirmed gifts, Thomas’s total rises to $5.9 million out of $6.6 million for all justices.

Chief Critic:

• Thomas and Crow have both denied any wrongdoing regarding the gifts. They defend the luxury vacations and other gifts as hospitality from a close friend. Thomas’s attorney, Elliot Burke, stated that the disclosure of the trips received from Crow in 2022 “answers—and utterly refutes—the charges trumped up in this partisan feeding frenzy,” suggesting that the criticism stems from opposition to Thomas’s judicial philosophy rather than genuine ethical concerns.

Key Background:

• Thomas is one of several justices under scrutiny for potential ethics concerns. He has faced criticism for his relationship with Crow and his wife Ginni Thomas’s right-wing activism, particularly her involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Justice Samuel Alito has also been criticized for accepting a luxury fishing trip from billionaire Paul Singer without disclosing it and for flying flags associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement while considering cases on the 2020 election and January 6. Despite denials of wrongdoing by the justices, these scandals have increased calls from Democrats for the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics. The court announced a new code of ethics in November, but legal experts have criticized it for not being stringent enough and for lacking enforcement mechanisms.