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Crow, a Texas businessman and Republican donor, disclosed
details about the justice's travel between 2017 and 2021 in
response to a Judiciary Committee vote last November to
authorize subpoenas to Crow and Leonard Leo, another influential
conservative figure, according to Senator Dick Durbin.
Thomas has previously come under criticism for failing to
disclose gifts from Crow. Thomas on June 7 revised his 2019
financial disclosure form to acknowledge that Crow paid for his
"food and lodging" at a Bali hotel and at a California club.
But the filing by Thomas failed to disclose that Crow had paid
for his travel by private jet related to the Bali and California
trips, and an eight-day excursion on a yacht in Indonesia -
omissions revealed on Thursday in a redacted document that
Durbin's office said contained travel itineraries for which Crow
had provided the justice with transportation.
The document shows private jet travel in May 2017 between St.
Louis, Montana and Dallas; private jet travel in March 2019
between Washington and Savannah, Georgia; and private jet travel
in June 2021 between Washington and San Jose, California.
Crow reached an agreement to provide information requested by
the committee dating back seven years, Crow spokesperson Michael
Zona said. As a condition of this, the committee agreed to end
its probe into Crow, Zona added.
"Despite his serious and continued concerns about the legality
and necessity of the inquiry, Mr. Crow engaged in good faith
negotiations with the committee from the beginning to resolve
the matter," Zona said.
A Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
"The Senate Judiciary Committee's ongoing investigation into the
Supreme Court's ethical crisis is producing new information -
like what we've revealed (Thursday) - and makes it crystal clear
that the highest court needs an enforceable code of conduct,
because its members continue to choose not to meet the moment,"
Durbin said.
Under pressure from criticism over ethics, the Supreme Court
last November adopted its first code of conduct.
Critics and some congressional Democrats have said the code does
not go far enough to promote transparency, continuing to leave
decisions to recuse from cases to the justices themselves and
providing no mechanism of enforcement.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
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