WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden on Monday demanded that the lawyer for billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow provide details about exactly when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas boarded Crow’s private jet and yacht and whether the donor was able to deduct the trips from taxes.
The questions from the Oregon Democrat join a chorus of President Joe Biden, Democratic lawmakers and ethics coordinators who have been raising the alarm for months about conflicts of interest among members of the Supreme Court.
detection Reports have revealed luxury trips, tuition and real estate gifted to Thomas or his family members, as well as public political statements made by judges or their spouses, including an upside-down American flag raised outside Justice Samuel Alito’s home following the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol following the 2020 election.
Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter On Monday, he went to Michael Bopp, a lawyer for Crow, and requested the records as part of a committee investigation into Thomas’ undisclosed luxury trips given to him by the conservative donor. These included a round-trip flight for Thomas and his wife in 2010 from Hawaii to New Zealand and a separate trip to Russia.
“The possibility that Mr. Crow showered a sitting Supreme Court justice with secret gifts and then reduced his taxable income by millions of dollars with impunity deserves close scrutiny by the legislature,” Wyden wrote.
The Senate Finance Committee is responsible for tax policy.
“A tax system”
Citing an investigative ProPublica report and previous correspondence from Bopp regarding the apply of Crow’s yacht, Wyden questioned why the company that owned Crow’s yacht, the Michaela Rose, was previously organized as an S corporation and had reported “sustained losses and lack of profits over a period of a decade.”
Wyden wrote that the situation had “all the hallmarks of a tax measure designed to write off the operating and maintenance costs of a pleasure yacht used solely for the pleasure of the Crow family.”
“I am seeking to understand the means and extent of Mr. Crow’s undisclosed generosity to Justice Thomas in order to incorporate it into several bills the committee is currently drafting,” Wyden wrote, adding that changes to tax law and audit requirements for Supreme Court justices were on his bill list.
A representative for Crow told States Newsroom in an emailed statement on Monday that Crow’s attorneys had already addressed Wyden’s requests, “which have no legal basis whatsoever and are intended solely to harass a private citizen.”
“Congress has no role in enforcing the tax laws. Mr. Crow and his companies are in good standing with the IRS. He has consistently complied with applicable tax laws as recommended by the national accounting firms that serve as his tax advisors. It is troubling that Senator Wyden is abusing his committee’s powers as part of a politically motivated campaign against the Supreme Court,” the spokesman wrote.
ProPublica first reported on Thomas’ long-standing friendship with Crow in April 2023Crow, a real estate developer, has not been directly involved in Supreme Court cases since Thomas took office, although the court occasionally takes cases that could affect the real estate industry more broadly.
There is no enforceable standard that can require judges to recuse themselves from cases in which they may have a conflict of interest.
Calls for a revision of the Supreme Court’s ethics guidelines
Wyden is not the only voice to question Thomas’ acceptance of gifts from a well-known political donor.
Biden called on Congress At the end of July, “confidence” in the court should be restored by passing an enforceable code of ethics and term limits for Supreme Court justices. US House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said any such legislation was “doomed to failure” in the Republican-led House.
Efforts in the Democratic-led U.S. Senate to pass ethics legislation have stalled for over a year. The invoice sponsored by Democratic Senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse progressive from the Senate Judiciary Committee along party lines in July 2023, but did not make it into the chamber.
In November 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee will Voted Crow and conservative agent Leonard Leo to obtain information related to luxury trips given to Thomas and Alito.
In June, the Justice Committee revealed Information provided by Crow that listed undisclosed travel by Thomas, including three domestic flights on private jets, as well as further details of a recently disclosed yacht trip to Indonesia in 2019.
Crow’s representative said Crow was “pleased to reach an agreement with the Senate Judiciary Committee – the committee that has jurisdiction over the judiciary – to close its investigation as part of an agreement that provides helpful information.”
According to analysis The advocacy group Fix the Court reported, using Supreme Court gift disclosures, that Thomas received gifts and trips totaling well over $4 million between 2004 and 2023.
