Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been secretly receiving luxury gifts from Republican Megadonor billionaire Harlan Crow for more than two decades without ever disclosing them, ProPublica reported on Thursday.
Justices of the Supreme Court, Congressmen, and judges are required by law to report most gifts given to them.
It is not the first time that Justice Thomas has come under the such spotlight. He has previously faced intense scrutiny over insufficient disclosure of his financial assets, and private appearance at events and galas of wealthy conservative business tycoons, donors, and influencers.
ProPublica has reported that Justice Thomas has taken a huge number of luxury trips over the last couple of decades to multiple destinations around the globe, all of which were funded by the billionaire Harlan Crow. The trips include all expenses paid private jet rides, superyacht trips, and other opulent escapades.
The report also says the Justice spends a week every summer at the Dallas businessman’s private resort in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. He has also vacationed at Crow’s ranch in East Texas, and has joined him at an exclusive all-male retreat in California called the Bohemian Grove.
A luxury trip to Bali, Indonesia, which included travel through a private jet in 2019, taken along with Justice’s wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, would have cost the couple upwards of $500,000 if only they had paid for it themselves. Thankfully, that vacation was also paid for by Harlan Crow.
While Justice Thomas did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comments, Crow released a statement to the publication defending his sponsorship of the trips, and adding that the hospitality he and his wife extended to the Justice and his wife is “no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends.”
“We have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue,” the statement adds.
