In late June just following when the U.S. Supreme Court released its final ruling on this term Justice Clarence Thomas boarded an enormous private jet heading to Indonesia. He and his wife were to vacation for nine days of island-hopping on the volcanic archipelago aboard an ultrayacht, manned by a gang of attendants as well as a private chef.

If Thomas had hired the plane and 162-foot boat himself the price of the trip might be more than $500,000. Fortunately for him, it wasn’t the case. Thomas was in vacation with a real estate magnate as well as Republican Megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet as well as the yacht.

Over the last two years, Thomas has accepted luxury vacations almost all year round from the Dallas businessman, without making them public as documents and interviews reveal. A public servant earning an annual salary of $285,000, he has been on the Crow superyacht across the globe. He is a passenger aboard the Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. Thomas has travelled along with Crow on trips to Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male resort, and to the sprawling ranch of Crow situated in East Texas. Thomas also Thomas usually spends around an entire week during the summer at Crow’s exclusive resort located in the Adirondacks.

The magnitude and the frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas are not matched by precedent in the time of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The trips were not listed on Thomas his financial disclosures. His inability to disclose the flights is in violation of the law passed in the wake of Watergate which requires judges, justices and lawmakers of Congress and federal officials to reveal the vast majority of gifts, ethics law experts suggested. Also, he should have disclosed his cruises on the yacht the experts suggested.

Thomas didn’t respond to a comprehensive set of inquiries.

In an official statement, Crow acknowledged that he’d extended “hospitality” to the Thomases “over the years,” but added that Thomas did not ask for anything, and that the gesture is “no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends.”

By his generosity, Crow has gained a exclusive access point, being able to spend days in private together with some of the biggest persons in the nation. Through his acceptance of the trips Thomas has violated long-standing rules regarding the conduct of judges as well as ethics experts, and four former federal judges claimed.

“It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this,” said Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge appointed by President Bill Clinton. While sitting on the bench Gertner claimed that she was so concerned about appearances that she didn’t even refer to her name when reserving dinners: “It was a question of not wanting to use the office for anything other than what it was intended.”

Virginia Canter, a former federal ethics lawyer who worked in both the political and administrative administrations she stated that Thomas “seems to have completely disregarded his higher ethical obligations.”

“When a justice’s lifestyle is being subsidized by the rich and famous, it absolutely corrodes public trust,” said Canter who is now with CREW, the watchdog organization. CREW. “Quite frankly, it makes my heart sink.”

ProPublica has revealed the specifics of Thomas Crow’s travels by taking flight logs and internal documents that were distributed to the employees of Crow and interviews with hundreds of individuals ranging from his staff at the superyacht’s headquarters as well as members of the shady Bohemian Club to an Indonesian diver instructor.

Federal judges hold the unique position of trust in the public. They enjoy a lifetime tenure which is intended to protect their from pressures as well as corruption that can arise from politics. A code of conduct for federal judges in the lower levels of those of the Supreme Court requires them to beware of the “appearance of impropriety.” High court judges chief justice John Roberts has written, “consult” that code for advice. It is the Supreme Court is left almost entirely to the police.

There aren’t any restrictions on the kind of gifts that justices are allowed to accept. That’s different from other branches of the government. Congress members Congress are typically restricted from accepting gifts of $50 or more. They require approval from an ethics committee in order to travel. some or all of the travel Thomas has received from Crow.

Thomas’ ethics-focused approach has already attracted the attention of the public. The year before, Thomas didn’t recuse himself from cases that dealt with whether his wife was involved, Ginni, in efforts to stop the presidential election of 2020. Although his decision sparked outrage however, it couldn’t be appealed.

Crow was introduced to Thomas when he was an official judge. The two have since become acquaintances, according to those who have known each other. Through time, some details about Crow’s relationships to the Thomases have come to light. The year 2011 was the first time The New York Times covered Crow’s generosity towards the justice system. The also year Politico disclosed that Crow donated the sum of half a million dollars to the Tea Party group founded by Ginni Thomas. It also gave her a salary of $120,000. However, the totality of Crow’s contributions to charity has not been disclosed.

An influential figure in the conservative political world of pro-business, Crow has spent millions in ideological endeavors to shape the judiciary and law. Crow and his company has not brought any case heard by the Supreme Court since Thomas joined the court, but the court is regularly hearing important cases that directly affect the real estate sector. The specifics of his conversations with Thomas throughout the years are unrecorded, and it’s not known whether Crow is influencing the Justice’s decisions.

In the declaration, Crow said that he and his wife have not spoken about a case that is pending or a smaller court proceeding with Thomas. “We have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue,” Crow added.

In Thomas his public appearances throughout the years, he’s been portrayed as a normal guy with moderate preferences.

“I don’t have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States, and I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States,” Thomas declared in an interview he did for an documentary on his life that Crow was a part of in bringing.

“I prefer RV parks. I like the Walmart parking lot to beaches and such. There’s something natural regarding it.” Thomas said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.”

“You Don’t Need to Worry About This — It’s All Covered”

CROW’S PRIVATE lakeside retreat, Camp Topridge, sits in a remote part of Adirondacks in the upstate of New York. It is surrounded through elaborate wooden gates the 105-acre estate, which was the summer home for the heiress who founded Mar-a-Lago with an artificial waterfall as well as a grand hall in which Crow’s guests enjoy meals that are prepared in private kitchens. Inside, there is clear evidence that demonstrates Crow and Thomas the relationship between them: A painting depicting two men in the resort, seated outside smoking cigarettes with politically conservative operatives. A statue of an Native American man, arms stretched out, is in the center of the picture and is photographic with its sharpness.

The painting depicts an image from about five years ago according to Sharif Tarabay, the artist who was asked from Crow to paint the scene. Thomas has been visiting Topridge almost every summer for over two decades, as per conversations with more than 12 guests and former resort employees as well as the documents that were obtained by ProPublica. Thomas has been fishing with a guide employed by Crow and performed at shows that musicians from Crow has brought into. Thomas has slept in the most luxurious hotel in the resort with an extravagant lodge that overlooks Upper St. Regis Lake.

The mountains of the region attract billionaires from all over the world. Hotels in the area designed by the Rockefellers start at $2250 a night. Crow’s exclusive resort is more luxurious. Visitors stay for no cost while enjoying Topridge’s 35 boathouses, 25 fireplaces an outdoor clay tennis court, and bat cage and more bizarre amenities like a huge model of Harry Potter character Hagrid’s hut and bronze statues of gnomes, and an old-fashioned soda fountain, where the Crow’s staff prepares milkshakes.

Crow’s right to justice system is open to anyone that the businessman wishes to invite. Thomas his frequent visits to Topridge have put him in contact with business executives and political activists.

During just one trip in July 2017, Thomas’ fellow guests included executives at Verizon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, major Republican donors and one of the leaders of the American Enterprise Institute, a pro-business conservative think tank, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. Paintings of Thomas at Topridge depicts him having a conversations with Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society leader widely regarded as the creator for Supreme Court’s latest shift towards the right.

In his interview with ProPublica, Crow said he has been “unaware of any of our friends ever lobbying or seeking to influence Justice Thomas on any case, and I would never invite anyone who I believe had any intention of doing that.”

“These are gatherings of friends,” Crow said.

Crow has deep ties to the political world of conservatives. As the heir to a huge property fortune Crow manages the family’s businesses. He recently referred to Marxism as the biggest threat to his life. He was a founding patron of the powerful anti-tax organization Club for Growth and has been on the board of AEI for more than 25 years. He is also on the committee of Hoover Institution, another conservative think tank.

A significant Republican donor for a long time, Crow has given more than $10 million in publicly reported political donations. Crow also gives to groups that hide their donors and the amount of this”dark” money is given to him and who he has given it to isn’t fully understood. “I don’t disclose what I’m not required to disclose,” Crow once said to the Times.

Crow has been a long-time supporter of efforts to shift the judiciary towards the right. He has contributed to the Federalist Society and given millions of dollars to groups devoted in tort reform, as well as the jurisprudence of conservatives. AEI as well as Hoover Institution Hoover Institution publish scholarship advancing traditional legal theories. Fellows from the think tanks sometimes make amicus briefs before Supreme Court justices. Supreme Court.

In the court since 1991, Thomas is a deeply conservative jurist who is known as a jurist who adheres to “originalism,” an approach which is based on strict interpretations of the language in the Constitution. While he’s been firm in this overall approach however his opinions on specific things have shifted. In the past, Thomas harshly criticized one of his earlier opinions after he accepted an idea of law, now popular among the right which would restrict the scope of government regulation. A small change in a justice’s thought process or even the words he uses in a ruling can have a profound impact on the entire body of law and changes in Thomas opinions can be particularly consequential. Thomas has taken a number of unorthodox legal positions that were accepted by the majority of the court many years later.

After Crow first met Thomas thirty years in the past, Crow began showering Thomas with presents like a $19,000 Bible belonging to Frederick Douglass, which Thomas admitted to. In the past, Crow gave Thomas a portrait of the justice and his wife, as per Tarabay who painted the portrait. Crow’s foundation also donated 105,000 dollars to Yale Law School, Thomas his alma mater, to fund”The “Justice Thomas Portrait Fund,” tax returns show.

Crow stated that his wife and he have been able to fund a number of initiatives which celebrate Thomas. “We believe it is important to make sure as many people as possible learn about him, remember him and understand the ideals for which he stands,” Crow declared.

To track Thomas Crow’s journeys around the world aboard Crow’s yacht, ProPublica spoke to more than 15 former crew members as well as tour guides, and gathered documentation of the ship’s voyages.

The Indonesia excursion in July 2019 Thomas was able to fly into the country via Crow’s aircraft According to a different traveler on board the aircraft. Clarence as well as Ginni Thomas were travelling together with Crow along with his wife Kathy. Crow’s yacht, Michaela Rose with its decked-out with motorboats as well as a massive inflating rubber duck greeted the passengers in a fishing port located on an island called Flores.

While exploring in the Lesser Sunda Islands, the group stopped at Komodo National Park, home of the eponymous reptiles, at the lakes formed by volcanic eruptions that are part of Mount Kelimutu; and at Pantai Meko, a spit of beach that is accessible only via boat. The other guest included Mark Paoletta, a friend of the Thomases and then working as the general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget under the administration of the president Donald Trump.

Paoletta was subject to the ethics guidelines of the executive branch at the time. He informed ProPublica that he had discussed travel plans with an ethics lawyer from his firm prior to accepting Crows invitation. “Based on that counsel’s advice, I reimbursed Harlan for the costs,” Paoletta wrote through an email. He didn’t reply to a query about the amount he paid Crow.

(Paoletta has been an uncompromising advocate for Thomas and was recently a witness before Congress against a re-enforcement of judicial ethics rules. “There is nothing wrong with ethics or recusals at the Supreme Court,” said the judge stated, adding that “To support any reform legislation right now would be to validate these vicious political attacks on the Supreme Court,” refers to the criticisms against Thomas as well as his spouse.)

The Indonesia trip was not Thomas his first trip aboard the Michaela Rose. Thomas was on an excursion on the river in Savannah, Georgia, and an extended cruise through New Zealand roughly a decade earlier.

In a gesture of appreciation, he gifted an employee of the yacht with an autographed copy of his memoir. Thomas made a note in the bookwith “Thank you so much for all your hard work on our New Zealand adventure.”

Crow’s policy was to not let guests pay for their meals, the the former Michaela Rose staff members said. “You don’t need to worry about this — it’s all covered,” one guest was told.

There is evidence Thomas has made even more cruises with the megayacht. Crow frequently gifted his guests personalized polo shirts to commemorate their travels according to the staff. ProPublica has photos that show Thomas sporting at minimum two of these shirt. In one of them, he is wearing the blue polo shirt that is embroidered with Michaela Rose logo as well as some words like “March 2007” and “Greek Islands.”

Thomas did not disclose any of the flights ProPublica found in the annual disclosure of his financials. Ethics experts have said that the law requires disclosure of private jet travel and Thomas may have violated it.

Justices are typically required to report publicly any gifts that exceed $415. This is defined to be “anything of value” that isn’t reimbursed in full. However, there are some exceptions: If a justice is hosted at their home the free meals and lodging do not have to be reported. This would allow dinner to be served at a home of a relative. The exemption did not apply to transport, including flight charters, according to experts the fact was clarified in the recently revised filing guidelines of the judiciary.

2 ethics experts have told ProPublica that Thomas yacht cruises, a method of transport, also require disclosure.

“If Justice Thomas received free travel on private planes and yachts, failure to report the gifts is a violation of the disclosure law,” said Kedric Payne, the senior director of ethics at the non-profit watchdog of government Campaign Legal Center. (Thomas himself has reported having received an exclusive jet flight from Crow in his disclosure from 1997.)

The experts suggested Thomas remains at Topridge could have triggered disclosure also, due to the fact that Crow is not the owner personally, but through a company. The guidelines for ethics of the judiciary didn’t specifically deal with the issue of ownership. The latest update to the filing procedure clarifies the need for disclosure in the stays.

How often Thomas didn’t disclose his travels isn’t clear. Records of flights from FlightAware and the Federal Aviation Administration and FlightAware show that he frequently makes use of the Crow’s plane. The plane usually follows a regular pattern: starting from its location located in Dallas up to Washington Dulles airport for a brief stop, and then to the destination Thomas is currently visiting, and then return.

ProPublica has identified five of these trips along with the Indonesia holiday.

On the 7th of July last year, the aircraft stopped for a forty-minute period at Dulles and then took off to a tiny airport in Topridge before returning in Dulles six days after. Thomas was in the resort in that week for his annual summer getaway according to someone who was at the resort. In the past, twice Thomas’s plane has matched the same pattern each time Thomas was at Crow’s property in Dallas at least once for the January. 4, 2018 swearing-in ceremony of the 5th Circuit judge James Ho at Crow’s private library, and then to attend the conservative think tank conference Crow hosted in May.

Thomas has even utilized the plane to travel for three hours. On February. 11 in 2016 the plane flew across the state of Dallas up to Dulles and then on to New Haven, Connecticut, returning later in the afternoon. ProPublica verified that Thomas was aboard the aircraft by examining Supreme Court security records obtained by the non-profit organization Fix the Court, private information about the jet and an New Haven plane spotter and an additional person who was who was at the airport. There is no evidence of Thomas appearing on the public stage on the day of his arrest as well as the reason behind the trip is still unclear.

Jet charter companies have told ProPublica that renting an identical aircraft in order to make New Haven New Haven trip could cost about $70,000.

The weekend of Oct. 16 2021, the plane of Crow returned to the same pattern. The following weekend, Thomas and Crow traveled to the Catholic cemetery in a tranquil neighborhood in New York City. They attended unveiled a statue in bronze of beloved eighth grade justice’s educator, which was also a nun as per Catholic Cemetery magazine.

When Thomas was speaking from a lectern and the statue loomed over his head, standing seven feet high and weighing 1,800 pounds. its granite base engraved with the words his teacher had said to him. Thomas addressed the nuns who gathered in front of him “This extraordinary statue is dedicated to you sisters.”

He also thanked the people who financed this statue, namely Harlan as well as Kathy Crow.

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow