Washington — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received more time to submit a financial disclosure report for 2022, as he faces scrutiny for the gifts, luxury travel and other financial dealings with Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.
The justices’ annual financial disclosure reports were made public Wednesday, but a spokesperson for the Administrative Office for the U.S. Courts confirmed to CBS News that Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito requested and were granted 90-day extensions to submit their filings.
Alito has asked for more time in past years to file his annual financial disclosures.
The release of this year’s forms was highly anticipated, since the Supreme Court, and Thomas specifically, has come under scrutiny from congressional Democrats over ethical practices. The renewed focus on the ethical standards abided by the justices followed a string of reports from the news outlet ProPublica detailing Thomas’ relationship with Crow, a Texas real estate developer.
The news organization revealed that in the course of their 25-year friendship, Thomas has taken trips aboard Crow’s private plane and yacht to far-flung spots, and vacationed at Crow’s resort in the Adirondacks. Crow, according to ProPublica’s findings, also purchased three properties in Georgia belonging to Thomas and his family in a deal worth $100,000, and paid two years of tuition at a pair of boarding schools for Thomas’ grandnephew.
The arrangements were not listed in Thomas’ previous financial disclosures. The justice, who has served on the Supreme Court for 30 years, confirmed in an April statement that he and his wife have joined the Crows “on a number of family trips,” but did not believe he was required to report the travel accommodations and vacations on disclosure forms.
Thomas pledged to comply with new guidelines adopted in March by the Judicial Conference, the body that sets policy for the federal judiciary, clarifying what constitutes as “personal hospitality.”
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