Justice Clarence Thomas latest financial disclosure form released Friday includes an amendment to a request made half a decade ago to include two trips paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow.
The financial circumstances of all but one Supreme Court justice were revealed on Friday as part of the filing deadline. Justice Samuel Alito requested a 90-day extension.
Thomas’s disclosure indicated that the two 2019 trips were “inadvertently omitted” from the “refund” section of the paperwork when that year’s records were submitted. After receiving guidance from his “accountant and ethics advisor,” Thomas reported on the trips.
The first trip, reimbursed by Crow and his wife, Cathy, took place on July 12, 2019, in Bali, Indonesia. Thomas indicated that he was a guest of the couple and was reimbursed for food and hotel accommodation.
ProPública first reported the trip to Indonesia, writing that Thomas and his wife, Ginni, vacationed with the Crows for “nine days of island hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht crewed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.” The cost of the trip would have exceeded $500,000 for the Thomases, according to ProPublica, but the bill was paid by Crow.
Days later, between July 18 and 21, 2019, Thomas was a guest at the Crow in Monte Rio, California, where food and lodging were provided at a private club. The trip is likely a reference to the Bohemian Grove, an exclusive men’s retreat in California that Thomas and Crow are said to have attended.
Last year, Thomas reported trips paid for by Crow for the first time after the trips became public. The development also followed new guidance, increasing requirements for when judges must report travel.
While judges have long filed annual paperwork, disclosures in recent years have come under increased scrutiny as judges face increasing criticism for their ethical standards.
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