U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decades-long friendship with a Dallas real estate magnate Harlan Crow may have led the judge to cross ethics boundaries.
A ProPublica report published Friday reveals that Crow – chairman of the board of Dallas-based Crow Holdings – has given Thomas extravagant gifts and brought him on luxurious trips.
For at least one of these trips, a nine-day 2019 vacation in Indonesia, Thomas flew via Crow’s private jet and sailed on his “superyacht,” according to the report. It said that justices are generally required to report all gifts over $415 and transportation such as private jet and yacht trips.
ProPublica said the estimated cost of the Indonesia trip would have been $500,000 if he had paid for it himself. His annual salary is reportedly $285,000.
Thomas has accepted at least five similar trips for more than two decades, per the report. He has also accompanied Crow to the exclusive Bohemian Grove retreat in California and spends a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks of upstate New York.
“The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court,” said ProPublica. However, the trips don’t show up on his financial disclosures, which “appears to violate a law passed after Watergate,” per experts the outlet cited.
Although there is an exception for disclosure when a justice is invited to stay at a private residence, experts say Thomas’ stays at Topridge, the Adirondacks resort may not count because Crow owns it through a company. At the estate, there is a painting of Crow, Thomas, and “conservative political operatives” smoking cigars by artist Sharif Tarabay.
Among the “operatives” mentioned by ProPublica is Leonard Leo, who it said is “regarded as an architect of the Supreme Court’s recent turn to the right.”
Thomas became a justice in 1991 and is known as a conservative voice on the court. Last summer, his concurring opinion was included in the unpopular Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health opinion, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Currently, the court has a conservative majority.
According to ProPublica, “Crow has spent millions on ideological efforts to shape the law and the judiciary,” and supports efforts to move the judiciary to the right. Transparency USA data indicates that he has contributed more than $3 million to various committees, including the Republican Party of Texas.
Crow met Thomas around 1996, soon after he became a justice. Almost immediately, he started giving the judge lavish gifts, said the report.
These included a portrait of the justice and his wife, Ginni Thomas, per Tarabay, who painted it as well as the Topridge piece. A Politico report cited by ProPublica said Crow also gave half a million dollars to a Tea Party group founded by Ginni, which paid her a $120,000 salary.
In recent years, Thomas has come under fire for Ginni’s connection to the Jan 6. “Stop the Steal” rally, former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims regarding election fraud and the 2020 presidential election and efforts to overturn the election.
“Last year, Thomas didn’t recuse himself from cases that touched on the involvement of his wife,” said ProPublica. “While his decision generated outcry, it could not be appealed.”
While he has accompanied Crow on international trips, Thomas claimed in a recent documentary interview that he doesn’t “have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States, and I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States.”
Crow helped finance the documentary.
Thomas did not respond to a detailed list of questions, said ProPublica. Crow, on the other hand, provided a statement. In it, he said that he and his wife are friends with the justice and that he treats him like any other friend.
“On a number of occasions, we have made contributions to projects celebrating the life and legacy of Justice Thomas, just as we have done with other great leaders and historically significant figures. He and Ginni never asked us to do any of this,” said the statement.
According to ProPublica, reporters “uncovered the details of Thomas’ travel by drawing from flight records, internal documents distributed to Crow’s employees and interviews with dozens of people ranging from his superyacht’s staff to members of the secretive Bohemian Club to an Indonesian scuba diving instructor.”
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