The multi -million dollar political donor Harlan Crow provided at least three private plane trips previously not revealed to the Judge of the Supreme Court Clarence Thomas in recent years, according to an investigation conducted by the Democrats of the Judicial Committee of the Senate.
The flights, which were detailed by Crow’s lawyer in response to the committee’s investigations, took justice to destinations, including the region near the Glacier National Park in the hometown of Montana and Thomas in Georgia.
The Committee launched its investigation in response to Propublic’s reports last year that revealed numerous unleashed gifts that Crow provided to Thomas, including the registration of private schools for a family and luxury vacation practically every year for more than two decades. The Democrats in the committee authorized a citation for Crow’s information last November, but the citation was not issued, and the new information occurred as a result of the negotiations between the Senate and Crow’s lawyers.
It is possible that there are more revelations to come. The president of the panel president, Senator Dick Durbin, D-Bill.
“As a result of our investigation and authorization of citations, we are providing the American public for greater clarity about the scope of ethical failures by the judges of the Supreme Court,” Durbin said in a statement. He added that newly discovered gifts make it clear that the glass is that the highest court needs a enforceable code of conduct. “
Crow’s office said in a statement that gave the senators information that covered the last seven years and that the committee “agreed to end his investigation with respect to Mr. Crow.”
“Despite his serious and continuous concerns about legality and the need for investigation, Mr. Crow dedicated himself to good faith with the committee,” the statement said.
Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Recently revealed flights are added to the image of the frequent use of Thomas de Crow’s Jet for personal trips, allowing justice to fly in the style of the ultraalcados. Crow has a high -end Global Bombardier 5000, a plane that can cost more than $ 10,000 per hour of flight to Charter, according to the Charter company estimates. Thomas has repeatedly flown to a destination and back the same day.
The relationship between the two men began in Crow’s Jet: in 1996, Crow offered to fly justice to Dallas for a speech and, while they were in the air, they fell, Crow said. Since then, Crow has taken Thomas to destinations around the world.
The new details published by the Senate do not make clear the purpose of the trips, they only list the dates and flight locations. They include a May 2017 trip from St. Louis to Kalispell, Montana, the location of Glacier Park International Airport, then from Montana to Dallas two days later. Thomas was scheduled to be in St. Louis at that time for a speech before an association of local lawyers.
In one case, he flew on June 29, 2021, from the East Coast to San José, California, and returned home later that day. In another, the Justice took a round trip on March 23, 2019, from Washington, DC, to Savannah, Georgia.
Propublic could not find evidence of Thomas immediately making public appearances in Montana, Georgia or California about the dates in question.
Last May, Senate Democrats requested detailed information from Crow about their relationship with Thomas, including a detailed list of all the gifts he had given to the judges of the Supreme Court over the years. In November, the Democrats increased the pressure by authorizing a citation. That decision was found with the fierce republican opposition, with the Republican senators in the committee leaving the hearing in protest.
The committee also authorized a summons for conservative legal activist Leonard Leo. Leo joined Thomas on at least one trip with Crow and also helped organize a luxury fishing vacation for Judge Samuel Alito, who was paid by political donors. Leo has said he will not comply with the summons.
The past fall, in the midst of the public protest on ethics controversies, the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct for the first time in its history. The code, however, has no application mechanism.
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats tried to approve a bill that would harden the ethics rules of the court and create a process to present and investigate complaints of potential misconduct. Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., described the “unconstitutional overreach” legislation and directed a group of Republican senators who blocked the bill to advance.
Last week, Thomas recognized for the first time that he should have told the public about the food and accommodation he received from Crow in a pair of free vacation, which were first discovered by Propublic. Thomas said that “inadvertently omitted” gifts in previous financial dissemination presentations. Thomas has not reported the recent private trips to Crow’s reaction, which many legal experts have described as a violation of the Federal Financial Disclosure Law. Thomas’s lawyer has maintained that justice did not need to inform free flights.
Do you have any advice on the Supreme Court? Justin Elliott can be contacted by email to (protected email) or by signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240. Josh Kaplan can be contacted by email to (protected email) and by signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383.
