Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledges making three trips last year aboard a private jet owned by Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow.

It is the first time in years that Thomas reports receiving hospitality from Crow. In a report made public Thursday, the 75-year-old judge said he complied with the federal judiciary’s new guidelines for reporting travel, but did not list any previous travel at Crow’s expense, including one in 2019 to Indonesia aboard the yacht owned by Crow. by the wealthy businessman and benefactor of conservative causes.

The filing comes amid a heightened focus on ethics in the Supreme Court stemming from a series of reports showing that Thomas received secret expensive gifts, including international travel, from Crow for years.

Crow also purchased the Georgia home where Thomas’ mother still lives and paid two years of private school for a child raised by Thomas and his wife Ginni.

Reporting from the investigative news site ProPublica also revealed that Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. had failed to disclose a private trip to Alaska he made in 2008 that was paid for by two wealthy Republican donors, one of whom had repeated court interests.

The Associated Press also reported in July that Judge Sonia Sotomayor, assisted by her staff, has boosted sales of her books through college visits over the past decade.

Supreme Court justices have no binding code of ethics and have resisted the idea of ​​adopting one or having Congress enforce one on them. In the spring, all nine justices recently signed an ethics statement that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Roberts has acknowledged that judges could do more to address ethical concerns.

But neither the statement nor Roberts’ remarks emanated from Senate Democrats. The Democratic-controlled Committee approved a code of ethics for the court in July by party-line vote. The legislation has little chance of passing the Senate. It would require at least nine Republican votes, and Republicans have vigorously opposed it, as well as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

One trip Thomas reported was to Crow’s lodge in the

Adironack Adirondack

Bergen in New York State, where

the research news site

ProPublica has reported that Thomas visits every year.

The other two trips were to Dallas, where he spoke at conferences sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Thomas noted that court officials recommended this

That

he is avoiding commercial travel for one of the trips, in mid-May, due to concerns about the safety of the judges following the leak of the court’s draft abortion opinion that Roe v. Wade undone.

The judge also presumably acknowledged that Crow bought the home in Savannah, G

terribly

a., where Thomas’ mother still lives. Thomas and other family members owned the house, along with two adjoining properties. The sale was completed in 2014, but Thomas mistakenly believed he did not need to report it because the sale resulted in a capital loss.

By reporting that he and his wife have assets worth $1.2 million to $2.7 million, Thomas also corrected several other errors in previous reports. These included leaving out accounts with a credit union that were worth $100,000 to $250,000 last year and a life insurance policy in his wife’s name that was valued at less than $100,000.

Thomas is considering whether to change previous reports, he noted.

Thomas and Alito’s annual financial reports were released Thursday, nearly three months after those of the other seven judges. Thomas and Alito were given a 90-day extension.

Alito reported assets ranging from $2.8 million to $7.4 million. While most of his holdings are in mutual funds, Alito retains shares in energy and other companies that sometimes force him to withdraw from Supreme Court cases.

Alito said in an unusual column in the Wall Street Journal that he was under no obligation to report the trip to Alaska or waive any business involving the beneficiary.