Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said there was “suggested” that there is no need to report luxury trips taken for years with Texas billionaire GOP donors while serving on the high court, and that he will do in the future.
In a rare statement released by the Supreme Court, Thomas said he was “advised” by his colleagues on the court “that the personal hospitality of close personal friends” was not something to report under court guidelines at the time. .
The conservative justice added that he wanted to follow the new reporting rules imposed by the Supreme Court last month.
Thomas has “received luxury trips almost every year” from Crow for more than two decades without reporting it, including on Crow’s private jet, ProPublica reported in a bombshell story on Friday. The failure to disclose the travel appears to violate a law that requires judges, members of Congress and other federal officials to report most gifts, including private jet flights, according to the article.
Thomas disclosed the expensive gifts and private plane trips in 2004 paid for by Crow, but he stepped down after the Los Angeles Times reported on them, the outlet said Thursday.
The story sparked outrage from congressional Democrats and unusual silence from Republican lawmakers.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (DR.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for the institution of a binding code of ethics for the high court and urged Chief Justice John Roberts to initiate an ethical investigation into Thomas’ travel.
“It cries out for the kind of independent inquiry that the Supreme Court — and only the Supreme Court, in all government — has refused to do,” Whitehouse said.
No Republican lawmakers, including those on the judiciary committees in the House and Senate, have weighed in on the matter.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.