Clarence Thomas took 3 undisclosed trips on private jet provided by GOP megadonor, committee says

Washington – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas took three undisclosed trips aboard a private jet provided by Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow between 2017 and 2021, according to documents obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee and released Thursday.

The records, which Crow turned over to the committee, show that Thomas traveled aboard Crow’s private jet in May 2017 on a flight from St. Louis, Missouri, to Kalispell, Montana, with a return flight to Dallas two days later.

The newly revealed second trip on the plane took place in March 2019, from Washington, D.C., to Savannah, Georgia, and back. The third, in June 2021, included round-trip flights between Washington and San Jose, California.

The committee said the documents were obtained as a result of its vote to authorize a subpoena to Crow in November. In addition to Crow, Democrats on the panel voted to subpoena conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, who refused to comply with your demand for information. Crow’s office said in April that he had not received a subpoena from the committee.

A statement from the committee noted that Thomas did not include the private jet trip in his most recent financial disclosure statement, which was released last week. The Supreme Court did not immediately return a request for comment.

“Nearly $4.2 million in gifts and even that was not enough for Judge Thomas, with at least three additional trips that the Committee discovered he did not disclose to date,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin. in a statement. “The Senate Judiciary Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis is producing new information – like what we revealed today – and makes it absolutely clear that the highest court needs an enforceable code of conduct because its members continue to choose not to do so. meet the moment.”

Crow’s office said in a statement that he reached an agreement with the panel to hand over information dating back seven years in response to Democrats’ requests for lists of travel, gifts, lodging or other transactions he provided to any member of the Supreme Court.

“Despite his serious and ongoing concerns about the legality and necessity of the inquiry, Mr. Crow engaged in good faith negotiations with the Committee from the outset to resolve the matter,” Crow’s office said. “As a condition of this agreement, the Committee has agreed to terminate the investigation regarding Mr. Crow.”

Durbin said the documents also showed travel aboard Crow’s private jet for a trip to Bali, Indonesia in July 2019, an eight-day “yacht excursion” for that vacation, and private jet travel for a trip in July 2019 to Santa Rosa, California.

The two trips in July 2019, to Indonesia and California, were reported by Thomas in an amendment to his 2019 financial disclosure form, which was included in his latest disclosure covering 2023, released last week. Thomas reported receiving food and lodging at a private club and hotel. It did not include travel aboard a private plane or yacht. His report said the lodging information was “inadvertently omitted” from his original request.

Durbin also said the dates of the trip to Indonesia reported by Thomas differed from those listed in documents provided by Crow.

The Judiciary Committee has been investigating ethical issues at the Supreme Court for about a year. The investigation was triggered by reports from the media outlet ProPublica that detailed trips Thomas took with Crow, including a vacation to Bali, that had not been included in his financial disclosure reports.

Thomas said last year that he didn’t believe he was required to publicize the trip and pledged to comply with guidelines on personal hospitality issued last year by the Judicial Conference, the regulatory body for federal courts. Your financial disclosure report for 2022 listed flights Thomas took aboard Crow’s private plane, as well as lodging at his Adirondacks estate. Thomas also provided details about a 2014 real estate transaction with Crow that ProPublica revealed.

Thomas’s relationship with Crow led Senate Democrats to pressure the Supreme Court to adopt a formal code of conduct and the Judiciary panel advanced legislation last July, this would require the court to establish binding ethical rules. But the measure was not brought to a vote on the Senate floor and an attempt by Durbin on Wednesday unanimously approve the ethics bill was blocked by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

The Supreme Court did reveal your own code of conduct in November, but it did not include a means of enforcement, and Democrats criticized the ethics rules as inadequate.