Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose three trips that were paid for by Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, according to information obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee and released Thursday.
According to the panel, Thomas failed to disclose information about three trips he took on Crow-funded private jets: a trip from St. Louis to Montana and back to Dallas in 2017; round trip from Washington to Savannah, Georgia in 2019; and round-trip travel from Washington to San Jose in 2021.
The information was obtained through documents and information that Crow provided to the committee seven years ago.
Also included in Crow’s trove of documents was information about 2019 trips to Indonesia and California, which included private jet trips to both and an eight-day yacht excursion in Bali. The committee noted that a recent report totaled the gifts Thomas received at nearly $4.2 million, far exceeding other justices’ totals.
“Nearly $4.2 million in gifts and even that was not enough for Judge Thomas, with at least three additional trips that the Committee discovered he did not disclose to date,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), in a statement. declaration.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Supreme Court’s ethical crisis is producing new information – like what we revealed today – and makes it absolutely clear that the highest court needs an enforceable code of conduct, because its members they continue to choose not to do so. meet the moment.”
Durbin also noted that Crow’s information was obtained due to the subpoena the panel advanced with growing questions about gifts received by the judges.
“As a result of our investigation and subpoena authorization, we are providing the American public with greater clarity about the extent of the Supreme Court justices’ ethical lapses and the need for ethics reform,” Durbin said.
“Despite an approval rating near an all-time low and endless self-inflicted scandals, the president of the Supreme Court [John Roberts] still refuses to use its existing authority to implement an enforceable code of conduct,” the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat continued. “Until he acts, we will continue to push for the Supreme Court Ethics, Revocation, and Transparency Act to become law.”
Shortly before the committee’s revelations were revealed, Crow’s office issued a statement saying he had agreed to turn over seven years of documents and information in exchange for the panel ending its investigation into the billionaire Republican donor.
“Mr. Crow has reached an agreement with the Senate Judiciary Committee to provide information responding to its seven-year-old requests,” the statement from Crow’s office read. “Despite your serious and ongoing concerns about the legality and necessity of the inquiry , Mr. Crow engaged in good faith negotiations with the Committee from the outset to resolve the matter.”
“As a condition of this agreement, the Committee has agreed to terminate its investigation into Mr. Crow,” he continued.
Durbin earlier in the week teased that “there may be new evidence” in the coming days, but declined to say anything further. He denied that it had anything to do with recently released recordings of conversations between Justice Samuel Alito and an undercover left-wing filmmaker.
“This is related to the ethical considerations of some of the judges for gifts they received and did not report,” he said on Monday.
The latest revelation comes amid the ongoing Democratic effort to pass a Supreme Court ethics package. Democrats attempted to pass the bill, authored by Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), by unanimous consent, but it was blocked by Republicans.
Updated at 4:10 p.m. ET
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
