Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended not disclosing that he accepted “luxury trips” and other gifts from a Republican megadonor in a statement Friday.
The Supreme Court justice said in a joint statement with wife Ginni Thomas, a prominent conservative activist, that he “was advised” that he did not have to disclose the trips, which were revealed on Thursday. Thomas “accepted luxury trips virtually every year” from Harlan Crow, a Dallas-based real estate developer and GOP donor, without disclosing them for over two decades, the report alleged. The couple traveled in 2019 to Indonesia, took a cruise to New Zealand nearly a decade ago, and visited an exclusive all-male retreat known as Bohemian Grove in California.
DICK DURBIN VOWS JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ACTION ON UNDISCLOSED GIFTS TO CLARENCE THOMAS
“Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them,” the couple said in a statement. “Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.”
“I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines,” the statement continued. “These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.”
News of the undisclosed gifts prompted an immediate outcry from congressional Democrats, who have long been critical of the 74-year-old justice. Thomas’s relationship with Democratic lawmakers has been icy since his 1991 Senate confirmation process was upended by sexual harassment allegations. He became more of a target for liberal critics last year, when his wife’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election with those in former President Donald Trump’s orbit, including then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as GOP state lawmakers, were revealed.
The associate justice was lambasted over the revelation about his wife, which came after he was the only member of the high court to dissent in a case relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigation. That case centered on a request by the former president to prevent the release of White House records to the House select committee investigating the matter.
Thomas survived Democratic calls for his impeachment as a result of the controversy, which Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismissed at the time as “not realistic.”
Durbin vowed that his committee “will act” in response to the ProPublica report on Thursday, though it is not clear what specifically the panel plans to do. Senate Democrats have been considering using this year’s funding legislation for the Supreme Court to push judges to adopt an ethics code that would require more transparent processes for recusals and for the investigation of ethics-related violation allegations. The No. 2 Senate Democrat has long supported implementing an ethics code for judges.
“The highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards,” Durbin said in a statement Thursday. “The behavior is simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court. Today’s report demonstrates, yet again, that Supreme Court Justices must be held to an enforceable code of conduct, just like every other federal judge. The Pro Publica report is a call to action, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will act.”
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Those actions may not be enough for every Democrat, however, with some progressives reiterating their calls for Thomas’s impeachment.
“This is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Thursday.
