Clarence Thomas Reveals Talented Trips of Republican Donors in Archives

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• Author, Ana Faguy
• Paper, BBC News
• Report from Washington

• 5 hours ago

Details about how U.S. Supreme Court justices made money last year were revealed Friday through the court’s financial disclosures.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson won tickets to Beyoncé from the singer and Judge Clarence Thomas publicized two trips donated by major Republican donor Harlan Crow – a report about the gifted trips landed the justice system in hot water earlier this year.

Four of the judges disclosed financial data related to book deals.

The reports, which cover the year 2023, were made public to eight of the nine ministers, with Justice Samuel Alito requesting a 90-day extension for his report.

Supreme Court justices are required to file gift disclosures annually.

Judge Brown Jackson received four Beyoncé tickets valued at more than $3,700 (more than £2,900) for the singer’s concert.

Meanwhile, Judge Thomas included in this year’s report the disclosure that he took two trips with Mr Crow in 2019 – one to Bali and one to California. The trips were added as a change to a previous disclosure.

The California trip was to a “private club,” according to the report, possibly alluding to Bohemian grove, a California club for rich and powerful men. Judge Thomas has reportedly visited the club in the past.

Food and lodging for both trips were donated to Judge Thomas, according to the release, but he did not include the exact monetary value of the trips.

ProPublica reported last year that the 2019 trip to Bali may have cost up to $500,000 (£403,000).

As part of its report, the nonprofit news site found that Judge Thomas accepted vacations from Mr. Crow, a real estate mogul, nearly every year for two decades.

At the time the news broke, Justice Thomas pushed back, saying “that kind of personal hospitality” did not need to be part of the annual disclosure.

Scrutiny of the omission led to similar criticism of other judges last year.

On Friday, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Brown Jackson listed book royalties as part of their financial disclosures.

Judge Brown Jackson won more than $893,000 (more than £702,000) for an advance on a yet-to-be-released memoir.

Judge Kavanaugh has revealed he was paid $340,000 (£267,000) for an upcoming “legal memoir”.

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