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Clarence Thomas, in financial disclosure, recognizes 2019 trips paid for by Harlan Crow
Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday acknowledged additional luxury trips he accepted from a conservative billionaire, amending an earlier financial disclosure to reflect trips he took to an Indonesian island and a secret all-male club in the redwoods of Northern California.
The trips, taken in 2019, were previously revealed by ProPublica, but this is the first time Thomas has included them in his financial disclosures.
Other Supreme Court justices recounted their gifts, travels, and money earned from books and teaching. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson reported receiving four concert tickets valued at about $3,700 from Beyoncé and $10,000 worth of artwork for his living quarters from Alabama artist and musician Lonnie Holley.
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The financial disclosures, released annually, are one of the few public records available about the lives of judges, providing selected details of their activities outside the courtroom. A steady stream of revelations about ties between some of the judges and wealthy donors has only intensified interest in the reports, especially after revelations that Thomas had accepted luxury trips and gifts from multimillionaire friends over decades.
Justice Samuel Alito was granted a reprieve this year, said the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which provides support to the federal judiciary and handles financial records. This is in line with your typical practice. According to Fix the Court, an advocacy group that criticizes the court’s lack of transparency, it delayed filing its disclosure for more than a decade.
Last year, Thomas and Alito requested and received extensions on filling out their disclosure forms. Neither cited a reason for asking for a delay.
When his form was released to the public, Thomas included an unusual addendum, a statement defending his acceptance of gifts from Harlan Crow, a Texas real estate magnate and donor to conservative causes. He had “inadvertently omitted” information on previous forms, said the statement, which also sought to justify his decision to fly private jets. He said he was advised to avoid commercial travel after the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.
The Supreme Court, under increasing pressure and intense public scrutiny, adopted its first code of ethics in November. Lower federal court judges have long been subject to a code, but the Supreme Court has never been subject to such requirements due to its special constitutional status.
Still, the lack of an enforcement mechanism or process for dealing with ethics complaints has drawn criticism, as has the absence of any specific restrictions on gifts, travel or real estate deals.
However, the nine-page code warned that members of the Supreme Court should not participate in activities that “impair the dignity” of work, interfere with a judge’s ability to perform official duties, “reflect negatively on the impartiality of the judge” or “ lead to frequent disqualification.”
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