Topline
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas amended his financial disclosure from 2019 on Friday to report two luxury vacations real estate magnate Harlan Crow gifted him that year, as the justice has come under fire for potential ethics concerns amid reports he accepted vacations and other extravagant gifts from Crow for years without disclosing them.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas poses for an official portrait on October 7, 2022 in ... [+]
Key Facts
Thomas noted at the end of his 2023 financial disclosure, which was posted Friday, that he amended his 2019 statement to add two trips to the “reimbursement” section, which covers transportation, food, lodging and other hospitality expenses that justices have had covered for them.
The justice reported two trips in July 2019 that were paid for by Crow: A trip to Bali, Indonesia, in which Crow covered Thomas’ food and lodging, and a stay at Crow’s private club in California, in which the real estate magnate also provided for Thomas’ food and lodging expenses.
ProPublica first reported in April 2023 that Thomas had accepted luxury vacations for years from Crow and his wife Kathy without disclosing them—part of a string of gifts the real estate magnate has given—which Thomas has claimed he was advised he didn’t have to report at the time.
Thomas more recently disclosed three trips that Crow paid for in 2022, saying in his disclosure for that year that he reported “all reportable travel” as required under new rules that took effect in March 2022, which requires justices to disclose “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation.”
The justice did not report receiving any hospitality gifts in 2023, and the only other gifts he reported were two photo albums given to him by Terrence Giroux—who leads the exclusive Horatio Alger Association Thomas belongs to—and wife Barbara, which had a value of $2,000.
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Forbes Valuation
Forbes estimates Thomas has a net worth of approximately $4 million—though some $2 million of it is tied up in his and his wife’s government pensions.
Tangent
Other justices also received gifts in 2023 that they reported on their financial disclosure forms Friday—most notably Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who reported receiving four concert tickets from Beyoncé Knowles-Carter with a value of $3,711.84.
Big Number
$4 million. That’s the value of all the confirmed gifts Thomas has received while serving as a Supreme Court justice, according to a tally of gifts released Thursday by judicial advocacy group Fix the Court—making up a majority of the $4.8 million the 17 most recent Supreme Court justices have received in gifts overall. That figure does not include gifts reported on 2023 disclosures, and when taking gifts that Thomas likely received—but haven’t been fully confirmed—into account, that number jumps up to $5.9 million, out of $6.6 million that justices received in likely and confirmed gifts overall.
Chief Critic
Thomas and Crow have both denied any wrongdoing or impropriety regarding the scores of gifts that Crow has provided to Thomas over the years, defending the luxury vacations and other gifts as hospitality from a close friend. When Thomas disclosed trips he received from Crow in 2022, noting he would comply with the court’s new disclosure policy, his attorney Elliot Burke said in a statement the disclosure “answers—and utterly refutes—the charges trumped up in this partisan feeding frenzy,” referring to criticism Thomas has received for his dealings with Crow as a “political blood sport.” “It is painfully obvious that these attacks are motivated by hatred for his judicial philosophy, not by any real belief in any ethical lapses,” Burke said.
Key Background
Thomas is one of several justices who have come under scrutiny in recent years for potential ethics concerns, as the conservative-leaning justice has faced criticism for his dealings with Crow and wife Ginni Thomas’ right-wing activism—particularly reports that she aided the effort to overturn the 2020 election. Justice Samuel Alito has also come under fire for accepting a luxury fishing trip from billionaire Paul Singer without disclosing it, as well as more recent reports that he and his wife flew flags associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement as he considered cases on the 2020 election and Jan. 6. Justices have uniformly denied any wrongdoing, but the proliferation of scandals has ramped up calls from Democrats for the court to impose a binding code of ethics on the justices, as they’re currently not forced to follow ethics rules as lower federal judges are. The Supreme Court announced a new code of ethics in November in response to the concerns, but legal experts have criticized it for not going far enough and not imposing any consequences should justices violate it.
Further Reading
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