最高法院根据周四公布的财务披露文件，大法官克拉伦斯·托马斯表示，去年他接受了私人朋友兼共和党超级捐赠者哈兰·克罗的五次私人飞机飞行。
在2022年2月的一次旅行中，托马斯报告说，“由于意想不到的冰风暴”，他接受了从德克萨斯州达拉斯返回的航班。在2022年5月的另一个场合，托马斯引用了他的安全细节的建议，即采取往返非商业旅行，因为“在多布斯意见泄露后，安全风险增加，”指的是后来在6月驳回罗伊诉韦德案的决定草案。
托马斯说，去年夏天，他是纽约北部克罗庄园的客人，接受朋友的往返交通、餐饮和住宿。
这些项目在托马斯的2022年财务披露报告中被列为“报销”，联邦法律要求所有联邦官员每年完成该报告。它详细说明了收入来源、礼物、报销和投资。
托马斯说，他咨询了最高法院的法律办公室，司法会议财务披露委员会和他的私人律师，以确保他符合指导方针，以及是否需要对过去的报告进行修订。
大法官没有修改任何过去的报告，以列出以前未披露的来自乌鸦的私人航班或款待，并指出，直到今年3月，联邦司法指南才明确要求法官报告“替代商业运输的运输”。此前，规定称任何“个人招待”都不需要上报。
然而，托马斯确定一些信息在过去的报告中被“无意中遗漏了”。
在附录中，托马斯列出了2017年至2021年报告中遗漏的个人银行账户和他妻子吉妮·托马斯的人寿保险，以及与乌鸦第一的一笔房地产交易显示今年早些时候由新闻调查网站ProPublica发布。
2015年10月2日，Crow Holdings LLC的董事长兼首席执行官Harlan Crow坐在德克萨斯州达拉斯的老帕克兰庄园办公室前拍照。
克里斯·古德尼/彭博
该媒体报道称，克罗在2014年从托马斯手中购买了三处佐治亚州的房产——包括托马斯母亲仍然居住的房子——这笔交易从未公开报道。
托马斯在新的文件中确认了这笔13.3万美元的交易，解释说他“无意中没有意识到”这笔交易是应该报告的，尽管它“导致了资本损失”。
关于托马斯大法官财务披露合规性的争议引发了对最高法院道德实践的严格审查，并促使国会民主党人推进旨在收紧规则和实施独立监督的立法。共和党人表示，对托马斯的关注是一种党派诽谤，旨在诋毁保守派多数派。
在新的报告中，托马斯发誓要遵守联邦司法指南的披露，并指出，今后，哈兰·克罗和其他朋友提供的所有旅行都将被报告。
Clarence Thomas discloses 2022 private flights from Harlan Crow, defends past omissions
Supreme CourtJustice Clarence Thomas says he accepted five private jet flights from personal friend and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow last year, according to financial disclosure documents released Thursday.
On one trip in February 2022, Thomas reports accepting a return flight from Dallas, Texas, "due to unexpected ice storm." On a separate occasion in May 2022, Thomas cited the recommendation of his security detail to take roundtrip noncommercial travel because of "increased security risk following the Dobbs opinion leak," referring to the draft of the decision that would later overrule Roe v. Wade in June.
Last summer, Thomas says he was a guest at Crow's upstate New York estate, accepting roundtrip transportation, meals and lodging from his friend.
The items are listed as "reimbursements" in Thomas' 2022 Financial Disclosure Report, which federal law requires all federal officials to complete each year. It details sources of income, gifts, reimbursements, and investments.
Thomas said he consulted with the Supreme Court's legal office, Judicial Conference Financial Disclosure Committee and his personal counsel in making sure he was in compliance with the guidelines and whether an amendments of past reports should be required.
The justice did not amend any past reports to list previously undisclosed private flights or hospitality from Crow, noting that only in March of this year did the federal judicial guidelines change to explicitly require judges to report "transportation that substitutes for commercial transportation." Previously, the rules stated any "personal hospitality" did not need to be reported.
Thomas did, however, determine that some information was "inadvertently omitted" from past reports.
In an addendum, Thomas lists personal bank accounts and his wife Ginni Thomas' life insurance which were left off reports from 2017 to 2021, and a real estate transaction with Crow firstrevealedearlier this year by the investigative news site ProPublica.
The outlet reported that Crow had purchased three Georgia properties from Thomas in 2014 -- including the home that Thomas' mother still lives in -- in a transaction that was never publicly reported.
Thomas confirms the $133,000 deal in the new filing, explaining that he "inadvertently failed to realize" that the sale was reportable even though it "resulted in a capital loss."
Controversy over Justice Thomas' financial disclosure compliance has triggered intense scrutiny of the Supreme Court's ethics practices and prompted Democrats in Congress to advance legislation aimed at tightening the rules and imposing independent oversight. Republicans say the focus on Thomas is a partisan smear aimed at discrediting the conservative majority.
In the new report, Thomas vows to comply with the federal judicial guidelines for disclosure, noting that going forward, all trips provided by Harlan Crow and other friends will be reported.
