Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently made it known that he has been taking secret trips sponsored by Republican super donor Harlan Crow, which we can just add to the list of reasons he should show himself to the door.
Thomas has been facing scrutiny over his questionable financial past (and present) as revealed thanks to extensive reporting from ProPublica, and only agreed to officially disclose his finances at the end of August 2023. Thomas’s interactions with Crow go beyond secret private jet rides, though: The Justice’s financial records seem to have omitted some key pieces of information, such as a real estate deal between Crow and Thomas in 2014.
Thomas has been accused of violating legal ethical obligations in recent years by failing to record trips and gifts he received from wealthy acquaintances and donors, but Thomas’s legal representatives have stated that these omissions were not intentional. Additionally, Thomas has stated that though he and Crow have been friends and gone on trips together, Crow has no pending cases before the court, and insists the time they spend together is not borne of bribery.
Thomas’s financial disclosures revealed that in 2022 he traveled by way of Crow’s private jet to a conference, where he was a keynote speaker, at a property also owned by Crow. In July of this year, Thomas took a vacation to Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks, but continues to allege that his failure to record these events was inadvertent.
An investigation into the secret trips and expenses is underway, as the involvement of a Republican donor like Crow seriously brings into question the integrity of the Supreme Court’s rulings. Accepting lavish treatment from Crow and failing to report it raises alarm bells as to Thomas’s credibility and bias while serving on the Court, and calls for Thomas’s resignation and for an in-depth investigation are growing among Democratic lawmakers.
A MoveOn petition calling for Thomas’s resignation or impeachment also gained attention this summer, ultimately getting more than 1.3 million signatures.
Justice Alito is in a similar predicament after failing to acknowledge a trip to Rome funded by a Republican group, Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative. Alito’s financial disclosure indicates that the religious group paid for his trip and various accompanying expenses.
(featured image: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn)
