After ethics questions surrounding Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas intensified, Senate Democrats began a formal process of seeking more information. The latest reporting from The New York Times suggests they’ve uncovered some relevant new details.
Justice Clarence Thomas failed to publicly disclose additional private travel provided by the wealthy conservative donor Harlan Crow, a top Democratic senator said in a letter on Monday. Customs and Border Protection records revealed that the justice and his wife, Virginia Thomas, took a round trip between Hawaii and New Zealand in November 2010 on Mr. Crow’s private jet, according to the letter. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, writing to Mr. Crow’s lawyer, demanded that he supply more information about the financial relationship between the two men.
The fact that the underlying issue is several years old doesn’t come as too big of a surprise: I first started writing about Crow and his generosity toward Thomas more than 13 years ago.
But that doesn’t make the apparent revelation any less notable: The Senate Finance Committee appears to have evidence of another instance in which a sitting Supreme Court justice took flights on a Republican megadonor private plane and failed to disclose.
In a detailed letter to Thomas’ attorney, Wyden, who chairs the Finance Committee, wrote, “I am deeply concerned that Mr. Crow may have been showering a public official with extravagant gifts, then writing off those gifts to lower his tax bill. This concern is only heightened by the Committee’s recent discovery of additional undisclosed international travel on Mr. Crow’s private jet by Justice Thomas.
“As I consider legislative solutions to curb potentially abusive deductions, I am offering you one final opportunity to address the tax treatment of yacht and jet trips involving Justice Thomas.”
For those who might benefit from a refresher, let’s circle back to our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
Thomas has faced difficult ethics questions for many years, but his difficulties took a more serious turn last spring. ProPublica published a rather devastating report in early April of last year, shining a light on the generous and undisclosed benefits Thomas has received from a Republican megadonor.
In the weeks and months that followed, ProPublica took the lead on exposing Thomas’ other unusual ties to his wealthy friend, but the outlet wasn’t alone. The New York Times also took the story further, shining a light on previously unreported benefits the justice has received from a “cohort of wealthy and powerful friends,” thanks to his connections established through the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.
The Times added fresh reporting last summer on one of Thomas’ other wealthy pals providing the sitting justice with undisclosed financing that made it possible for Thomas to buy an expensive recreational vehicle. How big was the loan? Neither the justice nor his friend say. How much did Thomas repay? They wouldn’t say. What were the terms of the loan? They wouldn’t say. Was there a formal loan agreement? They wouldn’t say.
Soon after, ProPublica published another report that made the entire controversy look considerably worse, noting that Thomas had received “at least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.”
In each instance, the far-right jurist’s luxurious benefits “have been underwritten by benefactors who share the ideology that drives his jurisprudence.” Though the precise value of the trips is difficult to measure, ProPublica described it as “likely in the millions” of dollars.
It’s an impossible dynamic to defend: Thomas has lived the life of a wealthy man, thanks to the generosity of his rich, likeminded friends.
As my MSNBC colleague Zeeshan Aleem explained, “There is nothing partisan about calling this what it is: a brazen, shameful abuse of power that undermines the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. That Thomas reportedly took these gifts is alarming enough. That he reportedly took them without disclosing that he had taken them (with rare exceptions) makes it hard to believe that Thomas doesn’t realize how bad this all looks.”
Earlier this year it reached the point at which Thomas became a punch-line to jokes about Supreme Court corruption. (In February, The Onion, a satirical outlet, published a memorable item with a headline that read, “Clarence Thomas Announces 50% Discount On All Favorable Rulings.”)
Last month, at least two senators asked the Justice Department to take matters to the next level with the appointment of a special counsel. Last week, President Joe Biden unveiled a package of reform measures, including a call for a binding code of conduct for the high court, with ethics rules that require justices to, among other things, disclose gifts.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
