Justice Clarence Thomas discloses trips with billionaire in annual financial disclosure News
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Justice Clarence Thomas discloses trips with billionaire in annual financial disclosure

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed in his annual financial report made public Thursday that he accepted three trips from billionaire Harlan Crow in 2022.

This disclosure was published after Thomas received political backlash for accepting extravagant gifts while serving on the United States Supreme Court. A previous report from ProPublica accused Thomas of accepting millions of dollars worth of gifts, including travel with Harlan Crow.

The financial disclosure released by Thomas lists three trips reimbursed by Crow in 2022, two for events in Dallas, Texas, where Thomas was a Keynote Speaker, and one for Keese Mills, New York where Thomas was a guest of Crow’s. The report does not list the amount Thomas received, only the purposes for the funds.

As the disclosure explains in its “Additional Information” section, the reporting of the trips comes in response to a Judicial Conference in March 2023, where clarity was provided regarding the reporting of gifts under the 1984 Judicial Conference Regulations.

According to the disclosure:

On March 14, 2023, the Judicial Conference provided new guidance on the “personal hospitality” exemption to explicitly state for the first time that “transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation” will no longer be considered exempt from reporting under that provision. As a result, filer will report any such trips, beginning with this filing for calendar year 2022.

The disclosure also includes financial information from previous years that it claims were “inadvertently omitted” from prior reports, including bank accounts from 2017-2021 and a real estate transaction with Harlan Crow from 2014.