Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been criticized in the United States for a report on alleged luxury travel. “The highest court in the country shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards,” said Democrat Dick Durbin, chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee. The background is a report by the investigative publication “ProPublica”. Accordingly, Thomas is said to have accepted luxury trips from billionaire Harlan Crow for years, who is a major donor to conservative projects.
Thomas is said not to have disclosed these invitations. “ProPublica” cites as an example a trip to Indonesia in 2019 that Thomas and his wife Ginni spent on board Crow’s yacht – they were also on his private jet. According to the report, Thomas did not respond to a detailed list of questions about the invitations.
The arch-conservative judge had recently repeatedly caused a stir. A statement by the lawyer, which he published in the wake of the verdict overturning the right to abortion in the USA, triggered horror last year. He wrote that decisions enshrining the right to contraception, same-sex marriage, or sex between same-sex partners also needed to be reviewed.
Democrat calls for impeachment
According to media reports, after Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, his wife Ginni Thomas is said to have made efforts to counteract the outcome of the election. She is considered a loyal Trump supporter. Critics have called for Thomas not to sit on the bench because of bias in Trump-related cases at the Supreme Court. So far, Thomas has not complied.
“The hospitality we have shown the Thomas’ over the years is no different than the hospitality we have shown our many other dear friends,” explained billionaire Crow. He never tried to influence the judge’s decisions.
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Thomas to be removed from the judiciary. Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General under former Republican President George W. Bush, told CNN he didn’t think the invitations influenced Thomas’ decisions. But he is concerned about the public image of the Supreme Court.
