Clarence Thomas didn't disclose additional flights on GOP megadonor's jet, senator says
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas didn't publicly disclose additional flights provided by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, a Democratic senator said in a letter sent to Crow's lawyer Monday.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said his committee has reviewed flight records showing that Thomas and his wife, Virginia Thomas, flew from Hawaii to New Zealand and back on Crow's private jet in November 2010.
Thomas has amended previous financial disclosures to reflect other trips but has not yet disclosed this flight, Wyden said in the letter demanding more information about the financial relationship and personal interactions between Thomas and Crow. For example, the letter asks if Thomas ever reimbursed Crow for the 2010 round trip flights.
The inquiry comes as Democrats in Congress and President Joe Biden have demanded big changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, such as term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code.
Wyden wrote he has been investigating whether Crow was writing off the use of his private jet and yacht on his taxes as a business expense.
"Unfortunately, your evasive response has only heightened my concerns that Mr. Crow and his associates were involved in a scheme to avoid paying taxes by claiming business deductions on personal travel," Wyden wrote in the letter to Crow's lawyer.
Michael Zona, a spokesperson for Crow, said in a statement that Crow's attorneys have already addressed Wyden's questions, which he alleged "have no legal basis and are only intended to harass a private citizen."
In June, Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., too revealed that Thomas had received travel from Crow that wasn't disclosed on his financial reports, including private jet flights in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
Thomas has argued that the trips were personal travel, so they did not require public disclosure.
The Supreme Court's ethic rules have been under a microscope lately since it was revealed that multiple justices accepted gifts without disclosing them. ProPublica first documented the extensive relationship between Thomas and Crow that thrust the issue into the spotlight.
Justice Samuel Alito came under fire for flying an inverted flag outside his house after the 2020 election and a "Appeal to Heaven" flag outside his beach home in 2023 – both symbols of the "Stop the Steal" movement. The "Appeal to Heaven" flag ? a white flag with a green pine tree in the center ? has also become a symbol for Christian nationalists.
They're not the only incidents that have raised eyebrows in recent years and prompted calls for specific Supreme Court ethics reforms. Justice Sonia Sotomayor's staff pushed public institutions to buy her books, Justice Neil Gorsuch sold real estate to the owner of a law firm that regularly had business before the court, and Chief Justice John Roberts' wife is a legal recruiter who has reportedly made millions for placing lawyers at firms, including those with business before the court.
The ethics changes proposed by Democrats in Congress are unlikely to become law, and one proposal from Biden would have to go through the lengthy process of becoming an amendment to the Constitution.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Clarence Thomas didn't disclose flights on megadonor jet, senator says