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- Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed multiple times Harlan Crow paid for his flights in 2022.
- Thomas' disclosure comes after reports raised questions about Thomas' relationship with Crow.
- Thomas also claimed that he took some private flights as a security precaution.
The Supreme Court released Justice Clarence Thomas' highly-anticipated financial disclosure form on Thursday after months of reporting detailing how the justice has accepted lavish trips from influential billionaires all while telling the public little or nothing about it.
It's partially notable that Thomas' 2022 form discloses how GOP megadonor Harlan Crow gave the justice flights, meals, and lodging as the justice appeared at events around the country.
Crow's inclusion comes after ProPublica released a series of reports in 2023 detailing the extensive friendship the two have, and how Crow repeatedly paid for private flights, vacations, and more for Thomas without ever being mentioned in recent public financial disclosures.
Thomas has argued he did nothing wrong and was simply following the guidance of those around him.
The justice also disclosed that he took private flights due to an "increased security risk" following the leak of the then-draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade. Justice Samuel Alito, a frequent Thomas ally, made few changes to his draft opinion when the court later released its opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade and gutted nationwide abortion rights.
In the 2022 disclosure, Thomas noted that Crow reimbursed him on three occasions in 2022 for speaking at the American Enterprise Institute, or as a "guest of source."
Crow has bristled at the suggestion there was anything untoward about his relationship with Thomas.
"You know, it's possible that people are just really friends," Crow previously told The Dallas Morning News in April. "It blows my mind that people assume that because Clarence Thomas has friends, that those friends have an angle."
At the end of Thomas' disclosure, he noted that he's working with officials to determine if he should amend his older reports, who advised him to include information omitted from prior reports — he included information like banking details and real estate holdings.
He also included information in the financial disclosure surrounding a real estate transaction he made in 2014.
First reported by ProPublica, Crow purchased a home in part owned by Thomas that the justice's mother occupied. While detailing the transaction, Thomas characterizes Crow as "a longtime friend of filer and his wife."