Washington — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made three secret trips aboard a private jet owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow between 2017 and 2021, according to documents obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee and released Thursday.
The records, which Crow turned over to the commission, show that Thomas traveled aboard Crow's private jet on a flight from St. Louis, Missouri, to Kalispell, Montana, in May 2017, with a return flight to Dallas two days later.
The second newly revealed trip by plane took place in March 2019, from Washington, DC, to Savannah, Georgia, and back. The third, in June 2021, included round-trip flights between Washington and San Jose, California.
The committee said the documents were obtained as a result of her vote to approve a subpoena for Crow in November. In addition to Crow, the panel's Democrats voted to issue a subpoena to conservative legal activist Leonard Leo refused to comply with their request for information. Crow's office said in April that he had not received a subpoena from the commission.
A press release from the commission noted that Thomas did not include the private jet trips in his most recent financial disclosure statement was released last week.
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“Nearly $4.2 million in gifts and even that wasn't enough for Judge Thomas, with at least three additional trips that the committee found he has not disclosed to date,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin , in a statement. “The Senate Judiciary Committee's ongoing investigation into the Supreme Court's ethics crisis provides new information — like what we revealed today — and makes it crystal clear that the Supreme Court needs an enforceable code of conduct because its members continue to choose not to to do. meet the moment.”
Crow's office said in a statement that he had reached an agreement with the panel to hand back seven years of information in response to Democrats' requests for lists of travel, gifts, lodging or other transactions he had made to any member of the Supreme Court provided.
“Despite his serious and ongoing concerns about the legality and necessity of the investigation, from the outset, Mr. Crow has engaged in good faith negotiations with the Committee to resolve the matter,” Crow's office said. “As a condition of this agreement, the committee has agreed to terminate the investigation into Mr. Crow.”
Durbin said the documents also showed travel aboard Crow's private jet for a July 2019 trip to Indonesia, an eight-day “yacht excursion” for that vacation and private jet travel for a July 2019 trip to Santa Rosa, California.
The two July 2019 trips, to Indonesia and California, were reported by Thomas in an amendment to his 2019 financial disclosure form, which was included in his latest disclosure last week. Thomas reported being given food and shelter at a private club and hotel. He did not include travel aboard the private plane or yacht. According to his report, the accommodation information was “inadvertently omitted” from his original application.
Durbin also said Thomas' reported dates of the trip to Indonesia differ from those listed in the documents Crow provided.
