Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has reportedly been accepting lavish gifts from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow for decades without disclosing those gifts, according to a report Wednesday from ProPublica.
Thomas, 74, has reportedly vacationed on Crow’s 162-foot superyacht, used Crow’s private plane and spent time at luxury retreats owned by the wealthy developer.
Thomas, who is viewed as one of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court, was nominated to the court by President George H. W. Bush in 1991. He is the longest-serving current justice.
The following are four key facts about Harlan Crow.
Crow has given gifts to Justice Thomas and his wife
Thomas reportedly spends about a week each year at Topridge, Crow’s private lakeside estate in the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
Flight records indicate Thomas has used Crow’s plane numerous times.
Crow also donated $500,000 to Thomas’s wife, Virginia, to help start Liberty Central, a now-defunct conservative group established in 2009, according to Politico.
In addition, Crow’s foundation gave $105,000 to Yale Law School, Justice Thomas’s alma mater, to be directed to a fund for a portrait of Thomas, according to tax filings.
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In a statement to ProPublica, Crow said, “The hospitality we have extended to the Thomas’s [sic] over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends.”
Crow said Clarence and Ginni, as she is generally known, Thomas “never asked” for any of the gifts or trips, and he called the pair “very dear friends.”
Crow added that he and his wife, Kathy, “have never asked about a pending [Supreme Court] or lower court case, and Justice Thomas has never discussed one, and we have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue.”
Crow is a real-estate millionaire — possibly a billionaire
Crow’s father, Trammell Crow, built a real-estate company in Texas that was once the country’s largest landlord, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The younger Crow eventually took over the Dallas-based company, Crow Holdings, and led its continued growth. Crow’s exact wealth is not known, and he doesn’t appear on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
But Crow is worth well into the millions of dollars, certainly. His Dallas home is valued at an estimated $55 million, making it the most expensive house in the city. Crow Holdings, of which Crow is chairman, has $29 billion in assets under management.
News outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Forbes and the Texas Tribune have referred to Crow as a billionaire.
Crow is a Republican megadonor
Crow has been affiliated with the Republican Party for years and has donated millions of dollars to various conservative causes and GOP candidates.
He has donated to candidates including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well as to an anti-Trump GOP group in 2016.
Crow is a collector of art and historical documents
Crow has an extensive collection of historical artifacts.
He owns collectibles associated with Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, George Washington and Robert E. Lee, as well as all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, according to a 2014 profile in the Dallas Morning News.
Crow’s art collection includes work from such notables as the French Impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet. He has also accumulated artworks by world leaders throughout history, including Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower, as well as Adolf Hitler.
According to the ProPublica report on Crow’s relationship with Thomas, some experts on legal ethics say Thomas should have disclosed these reported gifts and perks.
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Thomas’s annual salary, like that of the other Supreme Court associate justices, will be $285,400 in 2023, according to the U.S. Courts website. John Roberts, as chief justice of the United States, will be paid $298,500.
Supreme Court justices also receive nonmonetary perks, such as federal health benefits, and have the ability to supplement their income by giving lectures and speeches, according to a detailed report by Time magazine. At times of late, they have also been provided with additional security.
From the archives (June 2022): Ginni Thomas pressed dozens of Arizona legislators to appoint pro-Trump slate of electors after Biden won state: report
Also read: Georgia Republicans resume push to erect Clarence Thomas statue on grounds of state capitol in Atlanta
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