An 'inadvertently omitted' update: Clarence Thomas discloses new trips paid for by billionaire megadonor

31 August 2023

Clarence Thomas is telling on himself

After months of investigative reporting revealing his decades-long lifestyle of luxury vacations and other undisclosed financial gifts, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has issued his financial disclosure for 2022. It includes gifts from billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, an update to a filing from nearly a decade ago – information that he says was “inadvertently omitted” – and a claim he needed to travel via private plane for security reasons after the Dobbs leak.

Justice Thomas "reported three 2022 trips on the private jet of a Texas billionaire in a financial disclosure form released Thursday, and for the first time detailed the businessman’s purchase of three properties from the justice’s family years earlier," The Washington Post reports.

Citing the advice of his security detail, Justice Thomas "said he opted to fly on the private plane of his friend and benefactor, Harlan Crow, for one of the trips," The Post adds. "The justices faced heightened security risks, Thomas noted, after the May, 2022 leak of the court’s majority opinion to eliminate the nationwide right to abortion and overturn Roe v. Wade."

The filing states Justice Thomas was "Keynote Speaker at American Enterprise Institute’s Conference at Old Parkland" in Dallas, Texas in February, and Harlan Crow provided "Transportation (only return flight) and meals. Flew private on return trip due to unexpected ice storm."

It also lists a similar trip in May, noting Crow provided "Transportation and meals."

In a section titled "Additional Information or Explanations," Thomas appears to suggest he is looking back at financial filings from "prior years."

"During the preparation and filing of this report, filer sought and received guidance from the Supreme Court’s Legal Office, the Counselor to the Chief Justice, the staff of the Judicial Conference Financial Disclosure Committee ('Committee'), and personal counsel. Filer continues to work with Supreme Court officials and the Committee staff for guidance on whether he should further amend his reports from any prior years," it reads.

"Based on those discussions, the information below addresses the new travel disclosure requirements which began coverage with calendar year 2022, personal bank accounts and his spouse’s life insurance that were inadvertently omitted from prior reports for the covered period 2017 thru 2021, mistaken name of spouse’s family real estate holding, and a real estate transaction that predated the covered period."

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